MRI: A PC-based Multithreading Environment for Solving Grand Computational Problems in Science and Engineering

EIA-9977508Sohn，AndrewMcHugh，James A.新泽西理工学院MRI：一种基于PC的多线程环境，用于解决科学和工程中的大计算问题本提案的目的是探索一种替代昂贵的并行计算的方法，称为集群计算。其主要思想是开发和建造一种低成本但功能强大的并行计算机，它由廉价的双处理器个人计算机组成，通过商用交换机和网卡连接。为了克服与通用交换机相关的长通信延迟，建议将多线程和通信协处理器能力结合起来。在这种方法中，双处理器PC的每个处理器都有自己的双重角色，既是计算处理器又是通信处理器。使用软件启用的细粒度多线程，每个处理器的二元性允许计算与通信的重叠，从而掩盖了长时间的通信。提出的体系结构旨在提供性能可伸缩性和成本可伸缩性。拟议研究的主要成果将是一组个人计算机，它们既可以用作强大的并行计算机，为计算科学和工程问题提供能力，也可以用作适合电子商务的稳定、可扩展的Web服务器，同时可以用作日常计算需要的台式计算机。

EIA-9977508Sohn, AndrewMcHugh, James A.New Jersey Institute of TechnologyMRI: A PC-based Multithreading Environment for Solving Grand Computation Problems in Science and EngineeringThe purpose of this proposal is to explore an alternative to the expensive parallel computing, called cluster computing. The main idea is to develop and build a low-cost yet powerful parallel computer that consists of inexpensive dual-processor personal computers connected via commodity switchers and network cards. To overcome the long communication latencies associated with general purpose switches, it is proposed to combine the multithreading and communication co-processor capability. In this approach, each processor of a dual-processor PC has itself a dual role, acting both as a computation processor and a communication processor. Using software-enabled fine-grain multithreading, the duality of each processor allows the overlap of computation with communication, thus masking the long communication. The proposed architecture is designed to provide performance scalability and cost scalability. The principal result of the proposed research will be a cluster of PCs which can be used either as a powerful parallel computer to provide capabilities for computational science and engineering problems, or as a stable, scalable Web server as would be suitable for electronic commerce, and which at the same time can be used as a desktop computer for daily computing needs.