Support S3 read in the AqNWB C++ API

Project Description

• The goal of the project is to support data streaming from NWB files in S3 via the AqNWB C++ API using the HDF5 ROS3 driver.

Objectives and Approach

• Enhance AqNWB’s HDF5IO class to support opening a file with the ROS3 driver. ROS3 support should be optional to support building AqNWB with HDF5 with ROS3 disabled.
• Create brief tutorial on how to use S3 read with AqNWB
• Profile performance of ROS3 in AqNWB compared to h5py (and/or PyNWB)

Progress

• Implemented ROS3 support in AqNWB: https://github.com/NeurodataWithoutBorders/aqnwb/pull/307
• Implemented demo benchmark to compare performance of AqNWB ROS3 vs PyNWB using ROS3 and REMFILE: https://github.com/NeurodataWithoutBorders/aqnwb/pull/308
• Ported remfile to CPP: https://github.com/catalystneuro/remfile-cpp
• Integrated remfile with AqNWB: https://github.com/NeurodataWithoutBorders/aqnwb/pull/309
• Collected initial performance results from the demo benchmark: ruebel_aqnwb_performance
• Prepared summary presentation: ruebel_aqnwb_s3_ndrh_2026

Next Steps

• Finalize testing and review of the two MR’s and incorporate in upcoming AqNWB release