The “Chimera”: An Off-The-Shelf CPU/GPGPU/FPGA Hybrid Computing Platform
The nature of modern astronomy means that a number of interesting problems exhibit a substantial computational bound and this situation is gradually worsening. Scientists, increasingly fighting for valuable resources on conventional high-performance computing (HPC) facilities—often with a limited cu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2012-01-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Reconfigurable Computing |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/241439 |
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| _version_ | 1832558313530720256 |
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| author | Ra Inta David J. Bowman Susan M. Scott |
| author_facet | Ra Inta David J. Bowman Susan M. Scott |
| author_sort | Ra Inta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The nature of modern astronomy means that a number of interesting problems exhibit a substantial computational bound and this situation is gradually worsening. Scientists, increasingly fighting for valuable resources on conventional high-performance computing (HPC) facilities—often with a limited customizable user environment—are increasingly looking to hardware acceleration solutions. We describe here a heterogeneous CPU/GPGPU/FPGA desktop computing system (the “Chimera”), built with commercial-off-the-shelf components. We show that this platform may be a viable alternative solution to many common computationally bound problems found in astronomy, however, not without significant challenges. The most significant bottleneck in pipelines involving real data is most likely to be the interconnect (in this case the PCI Express bus residing on the CPU motherboard). Finally, we speculate on the merits of our Chimera system on the entire landscape of parallel computing, through the analysis of representative problems from UC Berkeley’s “Thirteen Dwarves.” |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4bf223287a8a446688e0c333eac63c8e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1687-7195 1687-7209 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Reconfigurable Computing |
| spelling | doaj-art-4bf223287a8a446688e0c333eac63c8e2025-02-03T01:32:35ZengWileyInternational Journal of Reconfigurable Computing1687-71951687-72092012-01-01201210.1155/2012/241439241439The “Chimera”: An Off-The-Shelf CPU/GPGPU/FPGA Hybrid Computing PlatformRa Inta0David J. Bowman1Susan M. Scott2The Centre for Gravitational Physics, Department of Quantum Science, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, AustraliaThe Centre for Gravitational Physics, Department of Quantum Science, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, AustraliaThe Centre for Gravitational Physics, Department of Quantum Science, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, AustraliaThe nature of modern astronomy means that a number of interesting problems exhibit a substantial computational bound and this situation is gradually worsening. Scientists, increasingly fighting for valuable resources on conventional high-performance computing (HPC) facilities—often with a limited customizable user environment—are increasingly looking to hardware acceleration solutions. We describe here a heterogeneous CPU/GPGPU/FPGA desktop computing system (the “Chimera”), built with commercial-off-the-shelf components. We show that this platform may be a viable alternative solution to many common computationally bound problems found in astronomy, however, not without significant challenges. The most significant bottleneck in pipelines involving real data is most likely to be the interconnect (in this case the PCI Express bus residing on the CPU motherboard). Finally, we speculate on the merits of our Chimera system on the entire landscape of parallel computing, through the analysis of representative problems from UC Berkeley’s “Thirteen Dwarves.”http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/241439 |
| spellingShingle | Ra Inta David J. Bowman Susan M. Scott The “Chimera”: An Off-The-Shelf CPU/GPGPU/FPGA Hybrid Computing Platform International Journal of Reconfigurable Computing |
| title | The “Chimera”: An Off-The-Shelf CPU/GPGPU/FPGA Hybrid Computing Platform |
| title_full | The “Chimera”: An Off-The-Shelf CPU/GPGPU/FPGA Hybrid Computing Platform |
| title_fullStr | The “Chimera”: An Off-The-Shelf CPU/GPGPU/FPGA Hybrid Computing Platform |
| title_full_unstemmed | The “Chimera”: An Off-The-Shelf CPU/GPGPU/FPGA Hybrid Computing Platform |
| title_short | The “Chimera”: An Off-The-Shelf CPU/GPGPU/FPGA Hybrid Computing Platform |
| title_sort | chimera an off the shelf cpu gpgpu fpga hybrid computing platform |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/241439 |
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