HDR UK Beacon

Core Functionality

Beacon is a Weave for cohort discovery queries across a federated network of subnodes to the GA4GH Beacon standard.

• Accept queries via a GA4GH Beacon v2 API.
• Federating those queries to any compatible Downstream Task API clients.
• Aggregate the returned results into a single GA4GH Beacon v2 response, which is returned to the requester.

Use in Federated Research

Beacon is deployed in a centralised environment to form a connected network of subnodes, each typically running its own Cohort Discovery system. This architecture enables distributed datasets to be queried as though they were one, without sharing patient-level data.

By aggregating results centrally, institutions can collaborate on large-scale research while maintaining data sovereignty and privacy.

Reference Implementation

The open-source, reference implementation is Relay, which provides a containerised environment designed with security in mind, enabling ethical, scalable health research through federated collaboration.

To support data governance, Beacon applies configurable obfuscation techniques such as suppression or rounding, ensuring sensitive counts are protected. It is designed for resilience, returning aggregated results even if one or more nodes are unavailable.

Weave details

Patterns

What a researcher can do

• Send a single query to many subnodes, and receive one aggregated answer.
• Find out whether, and how many, individuals across the network match a set of criteria.
• Use any client that supports the GA4GH Beacon v2 standard.

Effect on results

Results are estimates, not exact counts, for the same reasons as in the Discovery Weave: rounded counts do not add up to the true total, and suppressed counts are missing. In addition, if one or more subnodes are unavailable, the aggregated result is returned without them, so a total can be lower than the true value.

What it can’t do

• Run the researcher’s own code, or any analysis beyond the queries supported by the Beacon v2 standard.
• Link records or remove duplicates across subnodes, so individuals present in more than one subnode may be counted more than once.

Practical constraints

• Results are returned without waiting for a manual check.
• Each subnode must run a compatible cohort discovery system.
• Relay is deployed centrally, so the federation needs to agree who operates it.

Branding

We love seeing Beacon being used in talks, proposals, and accreditations, so feel free to use our logos.

You’ll find a selection to use below, please use the best one that is most visible, at a size that is best legible for your use.

All our work is covered by the MIT License.

Primary

Black Transparent

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SVG

Colour

Base: #234363

Accent: #8CC63E