Reconfigurable Architectures for Scientific ComputingAbout the ProjectSupercomputers play an important role in the field of computational science, and are used for a wide range of computationally intensive tasks in various fields across the engineering and sciences spectrum [1]. As the computational power of these systems continues to grow, there is typically a hard constraint on the maximum power that can be drawn by a system. It is therefore vitally important that new systems are procured with energy-efficiency in mind, and that applications are developed to achieve the maximum performance while making every effort to reduce their power requirements [2-4]. Although the theoretical peak performance of the fastest machines is rapidly approaching the era of Exascale computation, real applications are typically realising only a fraction of this – representing a significant waste of resources. One potential solution to this is the use of reconfigurable architectures — architectures that can be precisely configured at runtime to contain only the computational units required, in a configuration which is more tailored to the needs of the target application [5,6]. This research project seeks to investigate the applicability of reconfigurable architectures (e.g. field-programmable gate arrays [FPGAs]) to the computational sciences. Specifically, the objectives of this project will be to (i) evaluate the programmability of FPGAs for applications with a heavy reliance on floating-point calculations; (ii) port a small number of proxy applications from the physics domain to FPGAs; and finally, (iii) analyse the performance of these applications in terms of their runtime and energy performance, in order to quantify the trade-offs that may be available. Familiarity with parallel programming and programming FPGAs is desired. Research areas: High-Performance Computing, Embedded Computing, FPGA, Energy-aware computing For more details please contact Dr. Steven Wright E-mail: steven.wright@york.ac.uk Funding NotesSuccessful applicants to this PhD project will be put forward for potential funding from the Doctoral Centre for Safe, Ethical and Secure Computing, a graduate school within the Department of Computer Science at the University of York. Students with Home and Overseas fees status are welcome to apply. You can read more about the Centre on our webpages: View Website References[1] Wright, S.A. (2019). Performance Modeling, Benchmarking and Simulation of High Performance Computing Systems. Future Generation Computer Systems, 92, 900-902. https:///10.1016/j.future.2018.11.020 Dr Steven Wright Applications accepted all year round Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide) |
|
|
