SPX: Collaborative Research: Intelligent Communication Fabrics to Facilitate Extreme Scale Computing

在过去的几十年里，高性能计算的进步使科学和工程中的各种重要应用成为可能。半导体技术越来越面临基本的物理限制。硬件/软件协同设计的新方法现在在极端规模上实现了更高的性能。这个项目将探索两种新的方法：可配置性和集成性。可配置性使硬件能够更好地映射到应用程序。集成使通常单一功能的系统组件能够获得附加功能。数据传输的网络就是一个例子。这样的网络还可以在数据被传输时对其进行操作。集成使计算在架构和网络中无处不在。可配置性和集成性将大大提高计算资源的使用效率。这类资源包括高性能计算机。该项目的另一个重点将是使用现场可编程门阵列(FGA)。现场可编程门阵列是一种广泛使用的集成电路类型。在现场可编程门阵列中，可以配置硬件以匹配应用。现场可编程门阵列将允许研究产品部署到生产系统中。它们还将允许对系统设计中的变化进行评估。这项工作将推进极端规模的计算应用。这类应用包括药物和新药发现。该项目还将包括对研究生和本科生的培训。它将侧重于STEM学科中代表性不足的群体的学生该项目的中心主题是，硬件可配置性和集成的中心地位正在显现，这意味着至少必须打破两个旧的系统抽象。首先，这个项目将证明，计算和通信不应再包括单独的竖井。其次，它将证明应用程序不应再映射到固定硬件。取而代之的是，新的硬件-软件抽象必须围绕以应用程序为中心的系统的思想来构建。该项目将确定新的计算模式--计算分配/卸载和可配置硬件--这些模式将通过应用程序与计算机系统的紧密映射来识别应用程序。反过来，这种改进的映射将需要部署许多机制，从改进的编译器和高质量的应用程序库开始，但扩展到轻量级但智能的中间件(例如，改进的消息传递接口中间件)、自动应用程序修改、动态自动调优，以及所有这些组件中的机器学习辅助。该项目将在适当的时候考虑所有这些问题。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Advances in High-Performance Computing over the last several decades have enabled various important applications throughout science and engineering. Semiconductor technology increasingly faces fundamental physical limits. New approaches to hardware/software co-design are now achieving higher performance at extreme scales. This project will explore two new approaches: configurability and integration. Configurability enables hardware to map better to applications. Integration enables system components that have generally been single function to gain additional functionality. An example is a network for the transport of data. Such a network might also operate on that data as it is being transported. Integration enables compute everywhere in the architecture and network. Configurability and integration will lead to much more efficient use of computing resources. Such resources include high-performance computers. Another focus of this project will be in the use of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). FPGAs are a widely used type of integrated circuit. In FPGAs the hardware can be configured to match the application. FPGAs will allow the deployment of the research products into production systems. They will also allow evaluation of changes in system design. This work will advance extreme-scale computing applications. Such applications include medicine and new drug discovery. This project will also include training of graduate and undergraduate students. It will focus on students belonging to groups underrepresented in STEM disciplinesThe central theme of this project is that emerging centrality of hardware configurability and integration means that at least two old systems abstractions must be broken. First, this project will demonstrate that computation and communication should no longer comprise separate silos. Second, it will demonstrate that applications should no longer be mapped to fixed hardware. In their place, new hardware-software abstractions must necessarily be built around the idea of the application-centric system. This project will identify new computing modes -- computation distribution/offload and configurable hardware -- that will be application aware with tight mapping of applications to computer systems. This improved mapping, in turn, will require deploying a number of mechanisms, starting with improved compilers and high-quality application libraries but extending to lighter-weight yet intelligent middleware (for instance, improved Message Passing Interface middleware), automated application modification, dynamic autotuning, and machine learning assisting in all of these components. The project will consider all of these concerns in due course.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.