The objective of the project is the research and development of tools and processes to database decommission that preserve the content permanently on a physical medium and online, and that include tools for database regeneration together with its search functionalities. The tools and processes guarantee immunity to technical obsolescence, protect access and search functionalities for future users, prevent data corruption, avoid migration, exclude hackers, lower the CO2 impact from cloud storage, ensure user access in the long term and serve as the ‘ultimate backup of last resort’ for future generations.

The project is part of the general problem of archiving and preservation of digital information in the very long term (several centuries). The solution to this problem is of utmost importance in those sectors that have contents of great economic or cultural value and, therefore, want a reliable and secure preservation of their data for an indefinite period. The iVM focuses on the logical preservation of data, that is, the ability to extract and interpret in a very distant future data stored at present. This technology will be integrated into PPS (Piql Preservation System), based on high resolution micrographic film as a physical medium. The iVM project focuses on the context of virtual emulation. In recent years some partial solutions have been developed in this line, with limited application in some public and private institutions. However, there is currently no comprehensive and integrated solution in the market based on virtual emulation for long-term digital preservation.

Archivator project proposes to design and implement a stable and reliable solution to long-term storage of digital content. The solution adopted in this project to overcome the drawbacks of existing storage devices to achieve long-term is to use a medium based on high resolution micrographic polyester film, which durability and stability is measured in centuries. The participation of our research group is coordinated through a technology transfer contract with Tedial, a partner company of the project. In particular, we contribute to the development of the boxing/unboxing processes, that adapts the digital content data to the recorder system (including error correction and metadata) and extract content data from the scanned images. We also contribute to the development of an Archivator Process Manager (APM) and the integration of the Archivator system into a HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management) system.

This contract proposes a number of tasks in the context of digital audiovisual systems. First, the design of a system for video analysis and automatic indexing, for storyboard generation, audio to text conversion, and direct access (frame precision) to data content. Second, the design of a system for automatic management of robotized tape libraries in the context of large data files. Third, the design of a system for XML representation of multimedia data for Internet distribution and interactive TV, Finally, the design of a distributed multimedia information system.