Developing the world's fastest supercomputers  

25 February 2015

Researchers at Queen’s are building ground-breaking computer software which in turn is hoped will help create some of the world’s fastest supercomputers.

The software, developed by researchers in the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EEECS), will increase the ability of supercomputers to process masses of data at greater speed than ever before.

The breakthrough comes as part of a major research project between the University of Manchester and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire and has the potential to combat major global issues including climate change and life-threatening diseases by simulating detailed models of natural events and then processing new levels of data much more quickly than was previously thought possible.

By simulating detailed models of natural phenomena such as ocean currents, the blood flow of a human body and global weather patterns, scientists could use the information they produce to help address some of the big global challenges including sustainable energy, the rise in global temperatures and worldwide epidemics.

The Scalable, Energy-Efficient, Resilient and Transparent Software Adaptation (SERT) project has just been awarded almost £1m from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The project’s Principal Investigator, Professor Dimitrios Nikolopoulos (pictured above) from EEECS at Queen’s, said: “This new software, which is known as Exascale computing, means that complex computing simulations which would take thousands of years on a desktop computer will be completed in a matter of hours.

“This research has the potential to give us insights into how to combat some of the biggest issues facing humanity at the moment. It is such an exciting project to be a part of and is further evidence of how Queen’s researchers are advancing knowledge and changing lives.”

Professor Jack Dongarra from the University of Manchester, said:  “This project sheds valuable insight on how to use many core based systems effectively, proving major benefits for a wide range of scientific endeavours that depend on large-scale simulations.”

Queen’s is one of the UK’s leading Russell Group universities and was placed in the top ten for research intensity in the recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment exercise.

The SERT project is due to start in March 2015. It will be funded by EPSRC under the Software for the Future II programme, and the project will partner with the Numerical Analysis Group (NAG), Cluster Vision and STFC. The EPSRC is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences.

 

Media inquiries to Andrew Kennedy, Queen’s Communications Office, on andrew.kennedy@qub.ac.uk or 028 9097 5384.

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