Exascale Data Testbed for Simulation, Data Analysis & Visualisation

用于仿真、数据分析的百亿亿次数据测试台

• 批准号: ST/V006282/1
• 负责人: Nathan Abraham
• 金额: $ 25.48万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FV006282%2F1
• 关键词: Exascale; Data; Testbed; Simulation; Analysis

In 2018, the Exascale Computing ALgorithms & Infrastructures for the Benefit of UK Research (ExCALIBUR) programme was proposed by the Met Office, CCFE and EPSRC (on behalf of UKRI). The goal of ExCALIBUR is to redesign high priority computer codes and algorithms, keeping UK research and development at the forefront of high-performance simulation science. The challenge spans many disciplines and as such the programme of research will be delivered through a partnership between the Met Office and UKRI Research Councils. Research software engineers and scientists will work together to future proof the UK against the fast-moving changes in supercomputer designs. This combined scientific expertise will push the boundaries of science across a wide range of fields delivering transformational change at the cutting-edge of scientific supercomputing. DiRAC proposed the inclusion in the ExCALIBUR business case of a request for £4.5M in capital funding over 4.5 years to develop a hardware fore-sighting programme. Industry co-funding for the programme will be sought where possible. The £4.5m capital is intended to provide a testbed area that uses pre-commercial equipment for software prototyping and development. It has two main purposes: (1) to enable the software community to be ready to use commercial products effectively as soon as they come on to the market; and (2) to provide the UKRI HPC community with the ability to influence industry and the necessary knowledge to guide their purchase decisions. This will ensure that facilities and the future UK National e-Infrastructure are in a position to maximise value for money by getting the most powerful systems exactly suited to the communities' needs. This double-pronged approach will give UK researchers a competitive advantage internationally. ExCALIBUR will now establish a set of modest-sized, adaptable clusters dedicated solely to this purpose and embedded within established HPC environments. Although small, they need to be of a scale capable of carrying out meaningful performance studies. They are expected to be co-funded with industry partners and will initially require investments of £200k-£300k each, and will allow a range of future hardware to be assessed for its relevance to the delivery of UKRI science and innovation. The pre-commercial equipment will be refreshed and added to on a regular, likely to be annual, basis. This agile tactic is designed to take advantage of the different approaches across industry (some companies, e.g. NVidia tend to have a short (less than 3-month) pre-commercial window while for others this can be up to a year).ExCALIBUR can use the hardware piloting systems to drive software innovation across the UKRI research community. Researchers are rightly reluctant to invest time in code development to take advantage of new hardware which may not be available at scale for several years or may even prove not to have longevity - scientific leadership demands that research funding is used to deliver science results now. In addition and DiRAC and others will offer funded RSE effort to support the development work combined with access to novel technologies within modest-sized systems, Excalibur can lower the bar for engaging with the process of software re-engineering and encourage researchers to make the necessary (modest) investments of their time. In some cases, there may also be the potential for some immediate science outputs by exploiting the proof-of-concept systems. Excalibur will thus be able to provide an incentive for greater software innovation across the UKRI research communities and help to ensure that when novel technology is included in national services, there are workflows that are already able to exploit it optimally. This will increase productivity across all UKRI computing services and enable UK researchers to use the latest hardware to deliver the largest and most complex calculations, ensuring international leadership.

2018年，英国气象局、CCFE和EPSRC（代表UKRI）提出了Exascale计算算法和基础设施（ExCALIBUR）计划，ExCALIBUR的目标是重新设计高优先级计算机代码和算法。英国在高性能模拟科学领域的研究和开发处于前沿，这项挑战涉及多个学科，因此，英国气象局和 UKRI 研究中心将通过合作来维持该研究计划。研究软件工程师和科学家将共同努力，让英国在未来免受超级计算机设计快速变化的影响，这种结合的科学专业知识将推动科学的边界跨越广泛的领域，实现最前沿的变革。 DiRAC 提议在 ExCALIBUR 商业案例中请求在 4.5 年内提供 450 万英镑的资金，以开发硬件预见项目，并在可能的情况下寻求行业共同资助。 450 万英镑的资金旨在提供一个使用预商用设备进行软件原型设计和开发的测试平台，其主要目的有两个：(1) 使软件社区能够在商业产品推出后立即做好有效使用的准备。进入市场；(2) 为 UKRI HPC 社区提供影响行业的能力和指导其购买决策的必要知识，这将确保设施和未来的英国国家电子基础设施能够最大化金钱价值获得完全适合社区需求的最强大的系统将为英国研究人员带来国际竞争优势，ExCALIBUR 现在将建立一组专门用于此目的并嵌入到已建立的 HPC 中的小型、适应性强的集群。尽管规模较小，但它们需要具有能够进行有意义的性能研究的规模，预计将与行业合作伙伴共同资助，并且最初需要每项投资 20 万至 30 万英镑，并将允许进行一系列的研究。未来的硬件将评估其与 UKRI 科学和创新交付的相关性。商业化前的设备将定期（可能每年）更新和添加。这种敏捷策略旨在利用不同的方法。行业（一些公司，例如 NVidia，往往有一个较短（不到 3 个月）的预商用窗口，而对于其他公司来说，这可能长达一年）。ExCALIBUR 可以使用硬件试点系统来推动整个 UKRI 研究的软件创新研究人员理所当然地不愿意在代码开发上投入时间来利用新硬件，而新硬件可能在几年内无法大规模使用，甚至可能被证明不会长久使用——科学领导力要求现在就将研究资金用于交付科学成果。此外，DiRAC 和其他人将提供资助的 RSE 工作来支持开发工作，并结合在中等规模的系统中获取新技术，Excalibur 可以降低参与软件重新设计过程的门槛，并鼓励研究人员做出必要的准备他们那个时代的（适度）投资。在某些情况下，通过利用概念验证系统，Excalibur 也有可能产生一些直接的科学成果，从而能够激励 UKRI 研究社区进行更大的软件创新，并有助于确保新技术的应用。包含在国家服务中，已经有能够最佳利用它的工作流程，这将提高所有 UKRI 计算服务的生产力，并使英国研究人员能够使用最新的硬件来提供最大和最复杂的计算，从而确保国际领先地位。