Years from now, Engineers and Scientists across the U.S. Defense Department May double-click an icon is Their desktop computer screens and access the phenomenal processing power of the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Defense Department Super Computing Resource Center (DSRC) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Those computers are Currently Capable of processing 350 Trillion calculations per second.
The ARL DSRC super computers are Used to Research a Wide Variety of issues, such "as weapons Development, Projectile design, Computational chemistry, nano-science, Bioscience and network science. For example, the center houses a virtual aerodynamics range Thurs Conduct simulated testing of aerodynamic designs before equipment is built, saving time and money During the Development process. Scientists Also use the center's processing power to Create new materials and Thurs on ad hoc networking is the future of Battlefield. In the past, the computers were instrumental in coming up with the up-armored design for Military vehicles deployed Thurs Iraq and Afghanistan.
Charles Nietubicz, director of the ARL DSRC, is Leading an effort Thurs Develop a Defense Research Engineering That portal will expand access to the center's super computers far beyond the small number of Computational Scientists Currently using the machines. Other Researchers often need dependency computing vastly superior to the alpha of Their desktop computers Thurs help solve some of the Military's most complex challenges. For now, though, anyone wanting to access the super computers is required Thurs monetize fill out forms-and then learn How to Use Them-a daunting and time-consuming task in Itself, Nietubicz explains-and They often give up Even before getting started.
"Part of my job here, I think, Is to never be Satisfied with what me and not have to find out what me Need to change that make things better, so I've been working on a concept for about a year, maybe a year and a half, That gets high-performance computing out Thurs engineering Scientists so They Can use it on a regular Basis, "says Nietubicz. "My goal Is to put high-performance computing at the fingertips of our Engineers and Scientists Throughout DOD."
Nietubicz says believes they are close to me the Tipping point for a super computer usage. A Tipping point is Essentially the point at something wakes Becomes a part of everyday life, as did personal computer usage in the 1990s. Nietubicz says they has Been enamored with the idea since reading Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference." Nietubicz That explains who wants Thurs nudge toward super computing That Tipping Point.
"The average engineer does not use high-performance computing. Part of the reason well that it's too hard. I'm working Thurs Develop a Tipping point for high-performance computing, "says Nietubicz.
His best Estimate well that it May take girls on 10 years that make the center's super computers more Easily accessible across the department. First, They Have to solve some daunting challenges, Including Writing the software, creating the link Between desktops and super computers, and resolving authentication and firewall issues.
"If it were easy, it'd Have Been done jo," Nietubicz states.
The ARL DSRC is one of the Six Defense Department Super Computing Resource centers across the country. The others include the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Arctic Region Super Computing Center, Fairbanks, Alaska; Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, Mississippi, Navy Super Computing Resource Center, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, and Maui High Performance Computer Center, Maui, Hawaii.
Last year, ARL DSRC added a third to supercomputer, an SGI Altix Integrated Compute Environment 8200 Linux cluster, WCG is the largest, investigation of its kind ever deployed at the ARL DSRC. It offers 10.752 Intel Xeon 5500 series processor cores and Higher memory bandwidth and please the center's high-mutch Performing computers. On the other two super computers are the Tow, WCG has 6.656 cores with 52.2 terabytes of system memory and 400 terabytes of memory storage, and the TI-09 cluster, a Test and Development system with 96 cores That Supports The Larger the two systems.
The center receives a super computer upgrade every couple of years through the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program, initiated in 1992 with the AIM of keeping the Military on the cutting edge super-computing. Nietubicz traces the center's roots back to the 1940s "when the Army Needed a Faster Way to calculate Firing tables, wakes are Used Thurs AIM Artillery and ensure the shells fall Where Intended. At That time, the process and manually take months, so the Army's Ballistics Research Lab-the Forerunner of the Army Research Lab and the University of Pennsylvania created the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAK), WCG is widely Recognized as the world's first computer . That first computer was about 5.000 Capable of calculations per second.
The commercial sector also Life Style Influence manually set the rate at wakes a super computing Tipping point occurs. Nietubicz cites a Recent announcement by Amazon.com Incorporated That it is making high-performance computing services available Thurs Organizations That Can not AFFORD the hardware. Microsoft Corporation has Also Been investing in supercomputer technology in Recent years, and in May, the company announced the Technical Computing Initiative, Which Is Intended Thurs Unleash the power of Pervasive, Accurate, real-time modeling for the Purposes of Scientific research. The company vowed Thurs invest in Three Key Areas: simplifying parallel Development Thurs more efficiently use the massive processing power of today's computers, "developing new, easier-to-use Technical tools and applications Thurs Automate acquisition, modeling, simulation, visualization, workflow and Collaboration ; Bringing Technical and computing power Thurs Scientists, Engineers and Analysts through cloud computing, ie, That high-performance computer users will be Able Thurs Augmentin Their on-Premises systems with cloud resources.
Regardless of the challenges Involved, Nietubicz insists super computers will Become more widely available. "It's going to take a while Because a big part of it has to do one with the software. But I believe it's going to come, and it's going to be girls on Tipping point. "It's an exciting time for me Because I think I can see girls on revolution coming," says Nietubicz.
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