#  Executive Summary

This report describes the handling and open access of research data in the
DIMENSION project. Five main types of data is generated, collected and stored:
design data, simulation data, measurement data, publication data and project
documentation or report data. While the design, simulation and measurement
data mostly have appropriate formats which require the use of special software
and special hardware, are publications and project documents available in
standard pdf format. Furthermore, design simulation and measurement data are
restricted to special licenses and NDAs. Therefore, DIMENSION opt-out to
enable open access to such data in the current state of the project. Contrary,
publications and project documents (as long as not assigned as confidential or
inclusions of confidential data are present) are public and open accessible by
default. For publications the golden OA way is encouraged and the green OA way
is mainly targeted. Since publications and project documents/reports are
currently the only data sets considered for OA, no special repository is
implemented yet. However, the publications and project documents/reports will
be made available via the DIMENSION webpage. In any case the consortium has to
agree on the openness of data beforehand.

#  Introduction

##  Open Research Data

DIMENSION is H2020 project which takes part on the Open Research Data (ORD)
pilot following the guidelines given by EC [1], [2]. It is the intention of
the EC that each research project ensures that the results, scientific
publication and its data behind are open by default (with some reasons for
opt-out) and thus provides a broader access to them. This enables several
advantages:

  * the validation of research results (e.g. for peer reviews) becomes easier, 

  

  * scientific breakthroughs becomes more visible, 

  

  * research results will be more cited and therefore have a greater impact, 

  

  * duplication of research activities will be avoided which improves the quality of results 

  

  * research data is preserved, 

  

  * EC research funds are better valued and scientific processes become more transparent for society which brings a public benefit, and 

  

  * research is better distributed across scientific fields which helps to solve complex (social) challenges. 

  

An overview about the use of research results is shown in Figure 1. Either the
results are exploited which means will be protected by IPR e.g. patents, or
they are disseminated. The dissemination can be realized in two ways: first as
publication in scientific journals or on conferences, second, the research
data can be provided in data repository. For both dissemination opportunities
the EC follows the Open Access principle.

**Figure 1: Use of research results [3].**

In sense of the OPR pilot, open data means that the research data can
typically be accessed, mined, exploited, reproduced and disseminated, free of
charge for the user. Research data refers to information, in particular facts
or numbers, collected to be examined and considered as a basis for reasoning,
discussion or calculation. In a research context, examples of data include
statistics, results of experiments, measurements, observations resulting from
fieldwork, survey results, interview recordings and images. The focus is on
research data that is available in digital form. The types of data covered by
the ORD pilot are:

  1. the data needed to validate the results presented in scientific publications including the associated metadata, and 

  

  2. any other data (e.g. raw data) including the associated metadata. 

  

  

The open access to the research data can be denied in cases of:

  * results are commercially or industrially exploited, 

  

  * incompatibility with confidentiality and security issues – IPR, 

  

  * protection of personal data – privacy, 

  

  * jeopardise the achievement of the main aim of the action, • project does not generate and collect any research data, 

  

  * other legitimate reason. 

  

To use and provide open access to scientific research data, it should be
easily discoverable, accessible, assessable and intelligible, useable beyond
the original purpose for which it was collected as well as interoperable to
specific quality standards. These qualities will be ensured by the data
management plan (DMP). The DMP provides information on and specifies the data
the research will generate, how to ensure its curation, preservation and
sustainability, what parts of that data will be open and how. Its purpose is
to support the data management life cycle and provide an analysis of the main
elements of the data management policy of all the datasets that will be
generated by the project. Therefore, it rules the data handling and refers to
the right to access and reuse digital research data under its terms and
conditions during and after research project.

The DMP is not a fixed but rather a living document. It will be matured during
the project and will be continuously updated at least for each project review
(mid-term and at end of project) and when:

  * new data types are acquired, 

  

  * changes in consortium policies occur, or • changes in consortium composition occur. 

  

This report describes the data handling of the DIMENSION project: which data
will be created and how as well as if they are made accessible to public and
how. First procedures for data management were already described in the
DIMENSION description of action (DoA) [4].

##  DIMENSION DMP

This document is the initial DMP of the DIMENSION project describing what data
will be collected, processed or generated and following what methodology and
standards, whether and how this data will be shared and/or made open, and how
it will be curated and preserved. The plan will be made available on the
project website and continuously updated by all project partners according to
the project developments and the Horizon 2020 guidelines. Besides the
Consortium Agreement, the DMP will be used to manage (amongst other things)
the ownership and access to key knowledge of the project by effective data
management and IPR protection procedures.

The purpose of this DMP is to provide an analysis of the main elements of the
data management policy that will be used by the participants of the DIMENSION
project with regard to all the datasets that will be generated by the project.
It is a document outlining how research data will be handled during a research
project, and even after the project is completed, describing what data will be
collected, processed or generated and following what methodology and
standards, whether and how this data will be shared and/or made open, and how
it will be curated and preserved.

DIMENSION is a project that will create research scientific data in the
disciplines of datacentre networks, optical communications and component
design as well as fabrication. As DMPs are being enforced only recently by the
EC and other major funding bodies worldwide, standardized procedures are not
readily available and applicable to research projects covering these
disciplines. Nevertheless, DIMENSION will consider the following approaches as
far as applicable for providing the open research data:

  * data available on the Web (whatever format) under an open licence, 

  

  * available as structured data (e.g. Excel instead of a scan of a table) 

  

  * use non-proprietary formats (e.g. CSV instead of Excel) 

  

  * use URIs to denote things, so that people can point at your stuff 

  

  * link data to other data to provide context 

  

To provide the open access to the research data, the DIMENSION data management
policy follows the basic principle: “as open as possible, as closed as
necessary” which can be translated into two core principles:

  1. The generated research data should generally be made as widely accessible as possible in a timely and responsible manner; 

  

  2. The research process should not be impaired or damaged by the inappropriate release of such data. 

  

  

The DIMENSION consortium will take the appropriate measures so that the
research data generated in the project is easily discoverable, accessible,
assessable and intelligible, useable beyond the original purpose for which it
was collected and interoperable to specific quality standards.

In the following sections the DIMENSION data management will be defined. After
this introduction, Chapter 2 will summarize the research data which will be
generated, collected, processed and stored. Different types of data will be
defined and described with respect to its origin, properties, and (re-)use. In
Chapter 3, the DIMENSION principles for FAIR (findable, accessible,
interoperable, re-usable) data will be defined. In Chapter 4 the financing and
responsibility for FAIR data will be briefly stated. Chapter 5 describes the
measures which are taken for data security. Chapter 6 and 7 deal with ethical
and other aspects regarding open research data. Finally, Chapter 8 summarized
the DIMENSION data management.

#  Data Summary

This section gives and overview about the research data which are generated,
collected, processed and stored in DIMENSION. This includes the data
description for different types and formats, purpose with respect to project
objectives and tasks, for data re-use and how, data origin, expected data
size, and to whom it might be useful.

The state of data generated in DIMENSION will be strictly digital. In general,
the data file formats to be used shall meet the following criteria:

  * widely used and accepted as best practice within the specific discipline, • self-documenting, i.e. the digital file itself can include useful metadata, 

  

  * independent from specific platforms, hardware or software. 

  

However, different types of data will be generated and handled in DIMENSION.
Considering the technical disciplines related to DIMENSION project, high-
technology equipment and processes are used. Therefore, most of the research
data will be in appropriate formats. In the following the main data types are
described:

###  Design data

In DIMENSION several components and sub-systems will be designed (e.g. laser,
laser driver, modulator, modulator driver, test boards,…). For the design
special software like Cadence and Altium Designer is used. Design results are
schematics and layouts of the components. The digital format of the designs is
mostly appropriate (e.g. gds files) to the special software. Therefore, this
software is required for data re-use. Since, these softwares are only
available with legal licences, they cannot be provided by consortium.
Furthermore, the component design is based on a given (semiconductor)
technology physical design kit (PDK), e.g. IHP SG25H1 for the ICs, which is
provided by a manufacturer, called foundry. The use of the PDK is only
possible under the scope of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). In addition, the
DIMENSION designs and also the integration technology are subject of the main
objectives as well as for planned IPR.

This makes it impossible to provide an open access to those design data.
However, it will be possible to provide pictures and screenshots from the
designs which will be collected in design reports or corresponding deliverable
reports.

###  Simulation data

Further data type is generated by collecting results from simulations and
emulations. These are used to evaluate and estimate the performance and
properties of the simulated device. In DIMENSION simulations are used on
different levels. For the design of the components and ICs schematic and
layout simulations are performed. With regard to the integration technology
and packaging HF simulations are carried out using 3D EM solvers. The
operation of the complete transmitter and optical links will be simulated with
higher level system simulations. For the simulations and emulations special
software is typically used, which need special software licenses for research
or even business use. Such software includes for example OPNET, VPI, MATLAB,
HFSS, Sonnet and Cadence. The format of simulation results are for a big
extent appropriate data set only usable with the simulation software. In rare
cases simulation results can be exported as ASCII coded text files or to
typical database type of formats and spreadsheets with a complete description
of the data set (list of fields). These have to be post processed by
(simulation data) evaluation software. In most cases are diagrams of the
parameters of interest and screenshots the outcomes of simulations.

For these reasons it is not useful to provide the raw simulation data for open
access in DIMENSION. It makes more sense to provide the processed simulation
results as diagrams and collected as well as explained in a simulation report.
There applicable and in case of simulation text files or spreadsheets, the
data set could be put in a zip archive and be attached to the report. However,
simulation data will only made open after the results have been published.

###  Measurement data

Measurement data is similar to simulation data. However, measurement data is
generated and collected from hardware characterization and not from software
investigations. The results come from lab experiments, system environment
demonstrators and hardware analysis. The generated data is related to
measurements of specific parameters that indicate the systems, sub-system and
component performance. Special optical and HF test and measurement equipment
is used to collect the results. Similar to simulation data, also measurement
data is usually appropriate to the used equipment and corresponding software.
Sometimes also typical database types of format or spreadsheets with a
complete description of the data set (list of fields) are available. In most
cases the measurement results are screenshot from the measured diagrams and
plots.

Therefore, also in case of measurement data open access of raw data is not
promising in DIMENSION. Detailed measurement data will be made accessible
after publication via measurement reports which also describe the measurement
environment, e.g. specific performance parameters, test and measurement
equipment, experimental setups, etc. If applicable database-based measurement
data sets will be attached as zip archive to the reports.

###  Publications

The most open and visible data set of DIMENSION will be indeed the publication
of research results. Publications contain a summary of results with
description of their generation and corresponding condition. Publications are
created by one partner for individual results or as joint publication on joint
research efforts and success. Publications are made in scientific journal and
on conferences, mostly in the format of pdf files which are commonly usable.

In the context of publication data the OA approach of Horizon 2020 is embraced
by DIMENSION, following the guidelines presented by the Commission. We
encourage that the project results will be published mainly at fee-based open
access scientific journals, following the OA Gold method, due to the high
impact associated with certain journals. Indeed, there exist many open access
highimpact journals in the disciplines of optical networks and communications,
published by IEEE, OSA and Elsevier allowing a variety of publication venues.
For this reason costs for publication fees have been foreseen in the
consortium budget.

It is anticipated that our researchers will also primarily target the OA Green
method in the case of conferences and workshop contributions, since the two OA
methods are non-mutually exclusive. In that case the published article or the
final peer-reviewed manuscript is archived by the researcher in an online
scientific repository before, after or alongside its publication. In this
case, the authors must ensure open access to the publication within a time
frame which is defined by the publisher (embargo times are usually six months
to one year). The Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe (OpenAIRE)
[5] will be explored by our researchers to determine which repository to
choose. At TUD the open access repository Qucosa [6] is available which can be
used for all publications with TUD contribution.

###  Project documents and reports

A second major data set for open access will be project documents and reports,
such as deliverable reports. They are generated and collected to summarize the
project progress and results as well as discuss different approaches,
challenges and deviations with regard to the DIMENSION objectives. Reports can
be related to design, simulation and measurements and contains the processed
data. The openness or confidentiality of the project reports and documents is
directly defined in the DoA and CA of the project. Therefore, as long as the
documents are not assigned to be confidential, contain any confidential data
or the content is not subject of an IPR, they are per se public. Normally,
documents and reports are in standard pdf format. Public DIMENSION documents
and reports will be made available and accessible on the DIMENSION webpage
after their submission and publication.

#  FAIR data

One of the grand challenges of data-intensive science is to facilitate
knowledge discovery by assisting humans and machines in their discovery of,
access to, integration and analysis of, taskappropriate scientific data and
their associated algorithms and workflows [7]. In this regard FAIR data is a
set of guiding principles to make data **f** indable, **a** ccessible, **i**
nteroperable and **r** e-usable.

##  Findable data

ORD has to be findable easily, rapidly and identically. Therefore, exact and
standard measures have to be used to identify the data sets. This can include
the definition and use of naming conventions, search keywords, version
numbers, metadata standards and standard data identifiers.

For non-self-explaining data sets the researcher must ensure that sufficient
documentation or metadata (i.e. information about the data, e.g. title,
author, dates, access rights) is created and maintained to enable the
generated research data to be found, used and managed throughout the project
lifecycle. Documentation and metadata requirements will differ depending on
the discipline and the nature of the specific activity inside the project. For
example reports and publication do not need special metadata since this is
already included in the document. In contrast to this, a set of the
measurement data, e.g. a set of measured diagrams, need additional explanation
of the content of the data set. This will be provided by data documentation
which includes context for the data and ensures that the data can be
understood in the long term. Metadata can be considered as a subset of the
overall data documentation. Common types of metadata include: o descriptive
metadata: identifies the resource and enables it to be discovered o technical
metadata: enables a resource to be better managed, and in some cases preserved
over time, by capturing information such as creation and modification dates,
file formats and access restrictions.

The most widely-used descriptive metadata standard is Dublin Core that works
for different kinds of data (not just digital) and across disciplines. It is a
simple metadata standard that is commonly used in institutional repositories.
Furthermore, in DIMENSION the UK Data Audit Framework Methodology is
considered. Both standards are further assessed with the project progress
depending on the data types which further arise.

Since currently only publications, documents and reports are subject of ORD,
simple but distinct naming convention of data files are used in DIMENSION as a
starting point. The naming convention of DIMENSION files with examples is
shown in Table 2. For publication the documents are identified by the digital
object identifier (DOI).

**Table 2: DIMENSION data file naming convention.**  
  
<table>  
<tr>  
<th>

**Convention**

</th>  
<th>

_[time stamp]_DIMENSION_[data type]_[data type postfix]_[version].[file
format]_

</th> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

**Item**

</td>  
<td>

Time stamp

</td>  
<td>

Data type

</td>  
<td>

Data type postfix

</td>  
<td>

version

</td>  
<td>

file format

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

**Optional**

</td>  
<td>

X

</td>  
<td>

</td>  
<td>

X

</td>  
<td>

</td>  
<td>

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

**Definition(s)**

</td>  
<td>

YYYY_MM_DD

</td>  
<td>

Design

Simulation Measurement

Publication

Document

Report

Deliverable

Presentation

…

</td>  
<td>

arbitrary

</td>  
<td>

v#.#

</td>  
<td>

According

to software: pdf jpg zip gds xls(x) doc(x) ppt(x)

…

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

e.g. LDD, Laser, MD, …

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

e.g. D1.2

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

e.g.

ProjectMeeting

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

…

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

**Examples**

</td>  
<td>

2016_07_31

</td>  
<td>

DeliverableReport

</td>  
<td>

D1.2

</td>  
<td>

v0.1 v1.0

</td>  
<td>

As above

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

**Complete**

</td>  
<td>

_2016_07_31_DIMENSION_DeliverableReport_D1.2_v1.0.pdf_

</td> </tr> </table>

##  Accessible data

To enable for third parties to mine, exploit, reproduce and disseminate ORD,
it has become accessible. On the one hand this means that the data are stored
and provided on a platform which can be accessed by interested parties. These
platforms can be for example research data repositories. On the other hand, it
has to be guaranteed that the available data itself can be opened and
processed. In this regard as much as information on the data-related software
or instruments have to be provided, e.g. in a separate document or metadata.
It is useless to OA data which needs special and appropriate environments to
be accessed. Similar to the re-use of the data, also the modality and
conditions for the access itself can be defined by a license if there are
conflicts with IPR, privacy- or security-related matters.

Generally, all data which has been published can be made accessible. However,
as described in Chapter 2, for most of the data types in DIMENSION appropriate
formats and special restrictions (e.g. software licences, technology NDAs, …)
are present which prohibit free-access to the data. Most of the data sets for
OA are documents, reports and probably collected data from simulation and
measurements (e.g. results as screenshot or spreadsheet collection). For this
reasons, it has been decided in DIMENSION that the use of a special repository
is not beneficial at the moment. The current ORD can be circulated well via
the existing webpage as downloads and links. However, a special repository,
which links publications to research data, will be evaluated and selected when
first data is collected during project progress. Several repositories are
considered for this purpose (e.g. re3data.org, Zenodo, OpenAire-CERN). For
joint publications with TUD e.g. can be also placed in the Qucosa repository
and will be clearly identified with a DOI. In any case the accessibility of
data has to be confirmed by the DIMENSION consortium or contributing partners
beforehand.

##  Interoperable data

Interoperable data means that the exchange and reuse of data enabled by OA is
possible. Therefore, standard data vocab and formats which are compliant with
available open software have to be used for storing and providing the data. OA
of data which can only be used with special and restricted software makes no
sense. Only in case of interoperability, data exchange between researchers,
institutions, organisations, countries is possible and allows the re-
combination with different datasets from different origins.

In this regard DIMENSION will use as wherever possible data formats for OA
knowledge representation, which are formal, accessible, shared and in a
broadly applicable language. Qualified references to other data will be
included. For example, information on the tools and instruments, which are
needed to validate the measurement results, are provided with the data sets.
In particular, the format for data sets of equal content, e.g. measurement
data, will be a zip archive. These archives are linked to a (metadata)
document, e.g. the measurement report. All documentation and reports are filed
in pdf which is widely read- and usable.

##  Re-usable data

In order to make the ORD re-usable the conditions for the use have to be
defined. Modalities and scope of use can be defined by licenses. This
framework indicates if there are any restrictions and why. For example there
can be embargo times e.g. to publish and patent during or after project.
Furthermore, the durations of re-usability is regulated. Basically, it should
be ensured that the data is usable beyond the original purpose for which it
was collected even long time after the collection. This enables the
interdisciplinary use for new developments after the DIMENSION has finished.
Therefore, data is provided in a way that judgments can be made about their
reliability and the competence of those who created them. Licenses which rule
the use of ORD have to be clear and accessible.

Within DIMENSION re-usability of data is enabled that all data which will be
provided for OA yet, e.g. documentation and reports, is inherently public (and
free of charge). Therefore, no special licenses are established at the moment.
Once, special data will be provided for OA also special licenses will be
issued. However, although the data will public the DIMENSION project and its
consortium members reserve the copyright of the material. Data sets defined as
ORD will be available and accessible after the material was published. In all
cases, DIMENSION consortium or contributing partners have to agree beforehand
something becomes OA. For re-usability the data will be stored on the webpage
or on a repository system when implemented for at least ten years.

#  Allocation of resources

Currently there are no costs to provide FAIR data. For hosting the DIMENSION
webpage, which also provides public information, reports and project
documents, a yearly fee of <100 € for using the web domain is required. These
costs are covered the project budget of the coordinator TUD. Furthermore,
costs for publication fees in open access journals have been foreseen in the
consortium budget.

Responsible partner for the DMP and the FAIR data is the coordinator TUD.

#  Data security

Research data generated, processed and collected in DIMENSION is stored on
computers, clusters and servers at each project partner’s premises. The
facilities are hosted by the partners themselves and are secured according to
actual security guidelines. The data are placed in a back-up storage to be
able to restored in case of emergencies. The storage duration is usually 10
years according to the funding rules.

General project data and documentation is also stored in the project
SharePoint. Furthermore, public documents are also provided on the project
webpage. Both, the SharePoint and webpage, are hosted by the coordinator TUD
in house. Data security, backup and recovery is applied and the storage
duration is also at least 10 years.

#  Ethical aspects

In the DIMENSION project, there are no ethical or legal issues present which
impairs the data managing. The research in dimension does not create, process
and store personal data. Personal data of the DIMENSION consortium is no
subject of the project’s data management and ORD.

#  Other issues

There are no further national, funder, sectorial or departmental procedures to
be followed for the data management in DIMENSION. For internal data use each
partner applies the data management defined in its institution. The DIMENSION
documentation is also stored in the project SharePoint, which is accessible to
all project partners.

#  Conclusion

To conclude the current version of DMP, a summarized overview about the
DIMENSION research data set and its properties is shown in Table 2. As
described in the previous Chapters, it is currently only possible to provide
public project documents and publications. As a general rule, the DIMENSION
consortium has to confirm beforehand the accessibility and re-usability of the
data provided for ORD. This DMP represents the current state of data handling
in the DIMENSION project. As living document it will be continuously updated
at least at the end of each project period or in the cases of new data types
are acquired, changes in consortium policies occur, or changes in consortium
composition occur.

**Table 3: Summary of DIMENSION data sets and management.**  
  
<table>  
<tr>  
<th>

**Data type**

</th>  
<th>

**Origin**

</th>  
<th>

**Purposes**

</th>  
<th>

**Formats**

</th>  
<th>

**Re-usability**

</th>  
<th>

**Open**

**access**

</th>  
<th>

**Comments**

</th> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Design

</td>  
<td>

Design software, e.g. Cadence, Altium Designer

</td>  
<td>

Schematics, layouts for fabrication

</td>  
<td>

Appropriate, e.g. gds

</td>  
<td>

With corresponding design software; licenses; NDAs

</td>  
<td>

Not yet

</td>  
<td>

Design PDK

subject to

NDA

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Simulation

</td>  
<td>

Simulation software, e.g. OPNET, VPI,

MATLAB,

HFSS, Sonnet,

Cadence

</td>  
<td>

Estimation/analysis of component or system performance based on schematics,
layout

</td>  
<td>

Appropriate formats; database and spreadsheet formats; screenshots / pictures
/ diagrams

</td>  
<td>

With corresponding simulation software; licenses; zip archives with data sets
attached to reports, after publication

</td>  
<td>

Not yet

</td>  
<td>

Special software connate be provided; licenses required

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Measurement

</td>  
<td>

Measurement device, setup, lab experiments

</td>  
<td>

Verification/analysis of component or system performance in hardware

</td>  
<td>

Equipment appropriate formats; screenshots / diagram pictures

</td>  
<td>

With special equipment; diagram pictures as zip archives attached to reports;
after publication

</td>  
<td>

Not yet

</td>  
<td>

Equipment and appropriate software cannot be provided

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Publication

</td>  
<td>

Project results; Writing tools / software, e.g.

MS Word or

Latex

</td>  
<td>

Presentation of project results

</td>  
<td>

pdf

</td>  
<td>

With pdf readers; golden and green OA; After embargo times of publisher

</td>  
<td>

Yes

</td>  
<td>

Via

DIMENSION webpage

and/or via repositories, e.g. Qucosa

</td> </tr>  
<tr>  
<td>

Documents / reports

</td>  
<td>

Project results/progress; Writing tools / software, e.g.

MS Word or

Latex

</td>  
<td>

Summarize and report project progress and results

</td>  
<td>

pdf

</td>  
<td>

With pdf reader

</td>  
<td>

Yes

</td>  
<td>

Via

DIMENSION webpage

</td> </tr> </table>