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At least 217 records · Page 12

NAS Parallel Benchmark. Results 11-96: Performance Comparison of HPF and MPI Based NAS Parallel Benchmarks

High Performance Fortran (HPF), the high-level language for parallel Fortran programming, is based on Fortran 90. HALF was defined by an informal standards committee known as the High Performance Fortran Forum (HPFF) in 1993, and modeled on TMC's CM Fortran language. Several HPF features have since been incorporated into the draft ANSI/ISO Fortran 95, the next formal revision of the Fortran standard. HPF allows users to write a single parallel program that can execute on a serial machine, a shared-memory parallel machine, or a distributed-memory parallel machine. HPF eliminates the complex, error-prone task of explicitly specifying how, where, and when to pass messages between processors on distributed-memory machines, or when to synchronize processors on shared-memory machines. HPF is designed in a way that allows the programmer to code an application at a high level, and then selectively optimize portions of the code by dropping into message-passing or calling tuned library routines as 'extrinsics'. Compilers supporting High Performance Fortran features first appeared in late 1994 and early 1995 from Applied Parallel Research (APR) Digital Equipment Corporation, and The Portland Group (PGI). IBM introduced an HPF compiler for the IBM RS/6000 SP/2 in April of 1996. Over the past two years, these implementations have shown steady improvement in terms of both features and performance. The performance of various hardware/ programming model (HPF and MPI (message passing interface)) combinations will be compared, based on latest NAS (NASA Advanced Supercomputing) Parallel Benchmark (NPB) results, thus providing a cross-machine and cross-model comparison. Specifically, HPF based NPB results will be compared with MPI based NPB results to provide perspective on performance currently obtainable using HPF versus MPI or versus hand-tuned implementations such as those supplied by the hardware vendors. In addition we would also present NPB (Version 1.0) performance results for the following systems: DEC Alpha Server 8400 5/440, Fujitsu VPP Series (VX, VPP300, and VPP700), HP/Convex Exemplar SPP2000, IBM RS/6000 SP P2SC node (120 MHz) NEC SX-4/32, SGI/CRAY T3E, SGI Origin2000.

Saini, Subash↗

Task Description Language

Task Description Language (TDL) is an extension of the C++ programming language that enables programmers to quickly and easily write complex, concurrent computer programs for controlling real-time autonomous systems, including robots and spacecraft. TDL is based on earlier work (circa 1984 through 1989) on the Task Control Architecture (TCA). TDL provides syntactic support for hierarchical task-level control functions, including task decomposition, synchronization, execution monitoring, and exception handling. A Java-language-based compiler transforms TDL programs into pure C++ code that includes calls to a platform-independent task-control-management (TCM) library. TDL has been used to control and coordinate multiple heterogeneous robots in projects sponsored by NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It has also been used in Brazil to control an autonomous airship and in Canada to control a robotic manipulator.

Simmons, Reid↗

A quick-look decoder with isolated error correction and node synchronization

It is noted that in a low-noise environment, a simple inversion circuit can be used for quick-look decoding of a convolutional code. An improvement in the bit error performance of the raw inversion circuit is effected by a simple pattern-recognition technique operating on the syndrome stream, which is also used to acquire node sync.

Greenhall, C. A.↗

Decoder Synchronization for Deep Space Missions

The Consultative committee for Space Data STandards (CCSDS) recommends that space communication links employ a concatenated error-correcting channel-coding system in which the inner code is a convolutional (7, 2/2) code and the outer code is a (255,223) Reed-Solomon code.

Decoder↗

Engineering Voyager 2's encounter with Uranus

Changes made by radio control from the ground in the Voyager 2 spacecraft as it approached Uranus are described. Reduced power required that subsystems and heaters had to be switched on and off in carefully synchronized fashion. Low light levels required increased exposure times, so the jiggling of the spacecraft had to be minimized. Coding changes were made and image data were compressed to cope with the reduced bit rate at larger distances. Successful efforts to cope with failures in the primary radio receiver and in the computer instructions for image compression are described, as are changes made on the ground in the spacecraft navigation.

Laeser, Richard P.↗

DSMC analysis in a heterogeneous parallel computing environment

A methodology for implementing parallel DSMC codes in a heterogeneous computing environment is described. The methodology involves the use of a common message-passing software library together with recently developed software that handles the actual interprocessor communications in a standard manner across a variety of computing platforms. Benchmark tests using a simple DSMC model problem were performed on an Intel iPSC/860, a Cray-YMP and a group of Sun workstations. The approach was found to give speedups that scaled linearly with problem size on all the computing platforms tested. This methodology was then incorporated into a production-type DSMC code to allow the simulation of problems that would not otherwise have been practical. The application of this production code to simulations of hypersonic shear flows and shock-lip interactions under near-continuum conditions is described. Synchronous and asynchronous models for implementing parallelism into DSMC simulations are also described and both models are shown to produce the same steady-state result.

Wilmoth, R. G.↗

SpaceCube Mini

This version of the SpaceCube will be a full-fledged, onboard space processing system capable of 2500+ MIPS, and featuring a number of plug-andplay gigabit and standard interfaces, all in a condensed 3x3x3 form factor [less than 10 watts and less than 3 lb (approximately equal to 1.4 kg)]. The main processing engine is the Xilinx SIRF radiation- hardened-by-design Virtex-5 FX-130T field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Even as the SpaceCube 2.0 version (currently under test) is being targeted as the platform of choice for a number of the upcoming Earth Science Decadal Survey missions, GSFC has been contacted by customers who wish to see a system that incorporates key features of the version 2.0 architecture in an even smaller form factor. In order to fulfill that need, the SpaceCube Mini is being designed, and will be a very compact and low-power system. A similar flight system with this combination of small size, low power, low cost, adaptability, and extremely high processing power does not otherwise exist, and the SpaceCube Mini will be of tremendous benefit to GSFC and its partners. The SpaceCube Mini will utilize space-grade components. The primary processing engine of the Mini is the Xilinx Virtex-5 SIRF FX-130T radiation-hardened-by-design FPGA for critical flight applications in high-radiation environments. The Mini can also be equipped with a commercial Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA with integrated PowerPCs for a low-cost, high-power computing platform for use in the relatively radiation- benign LEOs (low-Earth orbits). In either case, this version of the Space-Cube will weigh less than 3 pounds (.1.4 kg), conform to the CubeSat form-factor (10x10x10 cm), and will be low power (less than 10 watts for typical applications). The SpaceCube Mini will have a radiation-hardened Aeroflex FPGA for configuring and scrubbing the Xilinx FPGA by utilizing the onboard FLASH memory to store the configuration files. The FLASH memory will also be used for storing algorithm and application code for the PowerPCs and the Xilinx FPGA. In addition, it will feature highspeed DDR SDRAM (double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory) to store the instructions and data of active applications. This version will also feature SATA-II and Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. Furthermore, there will also be general-purpose, multi-gigabit interfaces. In addition, the system will have dozens of transceivers that can support LVDS (low-voltage differential signaling), RS-422, or SpaceWire. The SpaceCube Mini includes an I/O card that can be customized to meet the needs of each mission. This version of the SpaceCube will be designed so that multiple Minis can be networked together using SpaceWire, Ethernet, or even a custom protocol. Scalability can be provided by networking multiple SpaceCube Minis together. Rigid-Flex technology is being targeted for the construction of the SpaceCube Mini, which will make the extremely compact and low-weight design feasible. The SpaceCube Mini is designed to fit in the compact CubeSat form factor, thus allowing deployment in a new class of missions that the previous SpaceCube versions were not suited for. At the time of this reporting, engineering units should be available in the summer 2012.

Michael Lin↗

DOT Transmit Module

The Deep Space Optical Terminal (DOT) transmit module demonstrates the DOT downlink signaling in a flight electronics assembly that can be qualified for deep space. The assembly has the capability to generate an electronic pulse-position modulation (PPM) waveform suitable for driving a laser assembly to produce the optical downlink signal. The downlink data enters the assembly through a serializer/ deserializer (SERDES) interface, and is encoded using a serially concatenated PPM (SCPPM) forward error correction code. The encoded data is modulated using PPM with an inter-symbol guard time to aid in receiver synchronization. Monitor and control of the assembly is via a low-voltage differential signal (LVDS) interface

Quirk, Kevin J.↗

Charge coupled device integration-time coding for detection of images moving with unknown velocities

Existing techniques for the detection of a moving low light level image by a CCD array have required velocity synchronism between the image and the photogenerated charges. This was necessary to prevent blurring during the long duration of charge integration. A new detection scheme is described which causes the image to be convolved with a clock modulation signal as the photocharges are collected. The charge accumulating from each image point will now be spread over many photoelements due to the absence of velocity synchronism, but the output is not blurred in the usual sense. Instead the charge is distributed through the array in a controlled way so that the image can be reconstructed.

White, J. M.↗

Virtual Time III, Part 3: Throttling and Message Cancellation

This is Part 3 of a trio of papers that unify in a natural way the two historically distinct parallel discrete event synchronization paradigms, optimistic and conservative, combining the best properties of both into a single framework called Unified Virtual Time (UVT). In this part, we survey the synchronization effects that can be achieved by restricting to corner cases the relationships permitted among the control variables, GVT, CVT, TVT, and LVT, which were defined in Part 1. Here we also survey various throttling policies from the literature and describe how they can be implemented in UVT by controlling the value of TVT, including policies that can take advantage of rollback in addition to LP blocking. A significant result is a new category of efficient and higher precision throttling algorithms for optimistic execution that are based on optimistic lookahead, defined in a way that is symmetric to what we now call the conservative lookahead information that is traditionally used for conservative synchronization. Finally, we present a novel algorithm allowing the choice between lazy and aggressive cancellation to be made on a message-by-message basis using either external logic expressed in the model code, or policy code internal to the simulator, or a mixture of both.

throttling↗

torch-einshard v1.0

torch-einshard is a Python library for describing local and distributed PyTorch tensor computations with compact, einsum-like notation. Its expressions name logical axes, specify how they are sharded across a PyTorch DeviceMesh, and represent partial reductions. The library automatically performs contractions, permutations, reshaping, splitting, gathering, reduction, reduce-scatter, and repartitioning while preserving autograd. Additional features include sharding-aware FFTs, tensor rolls, halo exchange, sliding windows, 1D–3D convolutions, uneven-shard handling, parameter initialization and gradient management, and cost-based execution planning. It is designed for scientific machine learning and large-model workloads, including tensor-, sequence-, and spatial-parallel MLPs, attention, convolutions, and spectral operations. Compared with manually combining torch.einsum and distributed collectives, torch-einshard expresses both the mathematical operation and data placement in one readable formula. This reduces boilerplate and synchronization errors, keeps forward and backward communication consistent, and allows the library to select optimized collective strategies without changing model code.

Morozov, Dmitriy [Lawrence Berkeley National Labor↗

A bandwidth efficient coding scheme for the Hubble Space Telescope

As a demonstration of the performance capabilities of trellis codes using multidimensional signal sets, a Viterbi decoder was designed. The choice of code was based on two factors. The first factor was its application as a possible replacement for the coding scheme currently used on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The HST at present uses the rate 1/3 nu = 6 (with 2 (exp nu) = 64 states) convolutional code with Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation. With the modulator restricted to a 3 Msym/s, this implies a data rate of only 1 Mbit/s, since the bandwidth efficiency K = 1/3 bit/sym. This is a very bandwidth inefficient scheme, although the system has the advantage of simplicity and large coding gain. The basic requirement from NASA was for a scheme that has as large a K as possible. Since a satellite channel was being used, 8PSK modulation was selected. This allows a K of between 2 and 3 bit/sym. The next influencing factor was INTELSAT's intention of transmitting the SONET 155.52 Mbit/s standard data rate over the 72 MHz transponders on its satellites. This requires a bandwidth efficiency of around 2.5 bit/sym. A Reed-Solomon block code is used as an outer code to give very low bit error rates (BER). A 16 state rate 5/6, 2.5 bit/sym, 4D-8PSK trellis code was selected. This code has reasonable complexity and has a coding gain of 4.8 dB compared to uncoded 8PSK (2). This trellis code also has the advantage that it is 45 deg rotationally invariant. This means that the decoder needs only to synchronize to one of the two naturally mapped 8PSK signals in the signal set.

Pietrobon, Steven S.↗

Galactic cosmic ray exposure estimates for SAGE-3 mission in polar orbit

An analysis of the effects of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) exposures on charge-coupled devices (CCDs) was performed for the SAGE-III 5-year mission in sun-synchronous orbit between 1996 and 2001. A detailed environment model used in conjunction with a geomagnetic vertical cut-off code provides the predicted 5-year fluence of GCR ions. A computerized solid model of the spacecraft was used to define the effective shield thickness distribution around the CCD detector. The particle fluences at the detector location are calculated with the Langley heavy-ion transport code, and these fluences are used in conjunction with estimated nuclear stopping powers to evaluate dosimetric quantities related to the detector degradation. A previous study analyzing effects of trapped particle and solar flare protons indicated an approximate 20 percent reduction in detector sensitivity for the mission. The galactic cosmic ray contribution was thought to be relatively small and therefore was not previously analyzed. The present study provides quantification of the GCR effects, which are found to contribute less than 1 percent of the total environment degradation.

Nealy, John E.↗

Time warp operating system version 2.7 internals manual

The Time Warp Operating System (TWOS) is an implementation of the Time Warp synchronization method proposed by David Jefferson. In addition, it serves as an actual platform for running discrete event simulations. The code comprising TWOS can be divided into several different sections. TWOS typically relies on an existing operating system to furnish some very basic services. This existing operating system is referred to as the Base OS. The existing operating system varies depending on the hardware TWOS is running on. It is Unix on the Sun workstations, Chrysalis or Mach on the Butterfly, and Mercury on the Mark 3 Hypercube. The base OS could be an entirely new operating system, written to meet the special needs of TWOS, but, to this point, existing systems have been used instead. The base OS's used for TWOS on various platforms are not discussed in detail in this manual, as they are well covered in their own manuals. Appendix G discusses the interface between one such OS, Mach, and TWOS.

Source record↗

The Communication Link and Error ANalysis (CLEAN) simulator

During the period July 1, 1993 through December 30, 1993, significant developments to the Communication Link and Error ANalysis (CLEAN) simulator were completed and include: (1) Soft decision Viterbi decoding; (2) node synchronization for the Soft decision Viterbi decoder; (3) insertion/deletion error programs; (4) convolutional encoder; (5) programs to investigate new convolutional codes; (6) pseudo-noise sequence generator; (7) soft decision data generator; (8) RICE compression/decompression (integration of RICE code generated by Pen-Shu Yeh at Goddard Space Flight Center); (9) Markov Chain channel modeling; (10) percent complete indicator when a program is executed; (11) header documentation; and (12) help utility. The CLEAN simulation tool is now capable of simulating a very wide variety of satellite communication links including the TDRSS downlink with RFI. The RICE compression/decompression schemes allow studies to be performed on error effects on RICE decompressed data. The Markov Chain modeling programs allow channels with memory to be simulated. Memory results from filtering, forward error correction encoding/decoding, differential encoding/decoding, channel RFI, nonlinear transponders and from many other satellite system processes. Besides the development of the simulation, a study was performed to determine whether the PCI provides a performance improvement for the TDRSS downlink. There exist RFI with several duty cycles for the TDRSS downlink. We conclude that the PCI does not improve performance for any of these interferers except possibly one which occurs for the TDRS East. Therefore, the usefulness of the PCI is a function of the time spent transmitting data to the WSGT through the TDRS East transponder.

Ebel, William J.↗

The Acoustic Influence of Cell Depth on the Rotordynamic Characteristics of Smooth-Rotor/Honeycomb-Stator Annular Gas Seals

A two-control volume is employed for honeycomb-stator/smooth-rotor seals, with a conventional control-volume used for the through flow and a 'capacitance accumulator' model for the honeycomb cells. The control volume for the honeycomb cells is shown to cause a dramatic reduction in the effective acoustic velocity of the main flow, dropping the lowest acoustic frequency into the frequency range of interest for rotordynamics. In these circumstances, the impedance functions for the seals can not be modeled with conventional (frequency-independent) stiffness, damping, and mass coefficients. More general transfer functions are required to account for the reaction forces, and calculated here as a lead-lag term for the direct force function and a lag term for the cross-coupled function. These first order functions are simple compared to transfer functions for magnetic bearings or foundations, For synchronous response to imbalance, they can be approximated by running-speed-dependent stiffness and damping coefficients in conventional rotordynamic codes. Correct predictions for stability and transient response will require more general algorithms, pressumably using a state-space format.

Childs, Dara W.↗

Next-Generation Telemetry Workstation

A next-generation telemetry workstation has been developed to replace the one currently used to test and control Range Safety systems. Improving upon the performance of the original system, the new telemetry workstation uses dual-channel telemetry boards for better synchronization of the two uplink telemetry streams. The new workstation also includes an Interrange Instrumentation Group/Global Positioning System (IRIG/GPS) time code receiver board for independent, local time stamping of return-link data. The next-generation system will also record and play back return-link data for postlaunch analysis.

Source record↗

Digital demodulator-correlator

An apparatus for demodulation and correlation of a code modulated 10 MHz signal is presented. The apparatus is comprised of a sample and hold analog-to-digital converter synchronized by a frequency coherent 40 MHz pulse to obtain four evenly spaced samples of each of the signal. Each sample is added or subtracted to or from one of four accumulators to or from the separate sums. The correlation functions are then computed. As a further feature of the invention, multipliers are each multiplied by a squarewave chopper signal having a period that is long relative to the period of the received signal to foreclose contamination of the received signal by leakage from either of the other two terms of the multipliers.

Layland, J. W.↗