Diesel-powered supercomputing

Richard Edgar

Computational Research Scientist, Initiative in Innovative Computing, IIC

Harvard University

Abstract

1. The Murchison Widefield Array is a next-generation radio telescope currently under construction in the Shire of Murchison, Western Australia.
   

2. It will make observations of the Early Universe by night and space weather by day. A key goal for the instrument is real-time imaging. With an input stream of 5 GB/sec, this requires real-time processing which has an estimated cost of 2.5 TFLOP/sec—an on-site supercomputer will be required.
   

3. Unfortunately, the MWA's site was chosen for radio astronomy and not a data centre. Consequently, it lacks various minor amenities, such as a connection to the electrical grid. Electricity is provided by diesel generators, meaning that only 30 kW is available to run the data processing supercomputer. This has driven the adoption of GPUs for this project.
   

About the speaker

1. Richard Edgar studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, completing his MSci in 2000. He stayed in Cambridge for his PhD, under the supervision of Cathie Clarke at the Institute of Astronomy.  Richard’s thesis was entitled “Radiative Feedback and Massive Star Formation.”
   

2. He performed postdoctoral research at Stockholm Observatory and the University of Rochester. In both places, his speciality was large-scale hydrodynamic calculations of planet-disc interactions. While in Rochester, Richard became interested in General Purpose GPU programming, prompting his move to the IIC.