OAC Core: OAC Core Projects: GPU Geometric Data Processing

几何数据处理在各个领域都是至关重要的，从建筑和设计到医学成像、机器人、动画和娱乐。机器学习的集成推动了该领域的进步，并解锁了计算机视觉和生成式人工智能驱动设计的应用。然而，对基于cpu的串行处理的依赖限制了处理复杂和详细几何图形的速度。该项目旨在利用图形处理单元（gpu）的并行计算能力来提高几何数据处理的速度、效率和可扩展性。它引入了gpu优化算法和数据结构，为非结构化网格处理提供了显着的速度改进，这是许多应用程序必不可少的常见但具有挑战性的优化任务。该项目通过设计最大化GPU和多GPU系统潜力的数据结构来解决3D几何数据处理中的低效率问题。主要研究方向有三个：1)动态非结构化网格处理，完全在GPU上处理网格拓扑结构的动态变化；2)并行的内在网格处理，同时管理外在和内在的网格表示，以确保理论鲁棒算法的最佳并行效率；3)神经网格压缩，利用神经网络压缩网格属性，最大化可处理的网格大小。为GPU架构量身定制这些策略旨在加速整个几何数据处理应用程序，从大规模模拟到交互式计算机图形。此外，该项目旨在通过在高质量的开源库中发布这些进步，鼓励采用gpu加速几何处理技术，并为开发人员和研究人员提供一套全面的工具来探索其领域内的新可能性，从而使这些进步能够广泛使用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Geometric data processing is vital across various domains, from architecture and design to medical imaging, robotics, animation, and entertainment. The integration of machine learning has propelled advancements in the field and unlocked applications for computer vision and generative AI-driven design. However, the reliance on CPU-based serial processing limits the speed of processing complex and detailed geometries. This project seeks to leverage Graphics Processing Units’ (GPUs’) parallel computing capabilities to improve geometric data processing speed, efficiency, and scalability. It introduces GPU-optimized algorithms and data structures, offering significant speed improvements for unstructured mesh processing, a common but challenging-to-optimize task essential to many applications.This project addresses the inefficiencies in 3D geometric data processing by designing data structures that maximize the potential of GPU and multi-GPU systems. It focuses on three primary research directions: 1) Dynamic Unstructured Mesh Processing, to process dynamic changes in mesh topology entirely on the GPU; 2) Parallel Intrinsic Mesh Processing, managing extrinsic and intrinsic mesh representations simultaneously to ensure optimal parallel efficiency of theoretically robust algorithms; and 3) Neural Mesh Compression, to compress mesh attributes using neural networks, maximizing the size of meshes that may be processed. Tailoring these strategies specifically for GPU architectures aims to accelerate the entire spectrum of geometric data processing applications, from large-scale simulations to interactive computer graphics. Additionally, the project seeks to make these advancements broadly accessible by releasing them in high-quality, open-source libraries, encouraging the adoption of GPU-accelerated geometric processing techniques, and providing developers and researchers with a comprehensive set of tools to explore new possibilities within their fields.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.