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At least 73 records · Page 4

Assessing and Advancing the Potential of Quantum Computing: A NASA Case Study

Quantum computing is one of the most enticing computational paradigms with the potential to revolutionize diverse areas of future-generation computational systems. While quantum computing hardware has advanced rapidly, from tiny laboratory experiments to quantum chips that can outperform even the largest supercomputers on specialized computational tasks, these noisy- intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) processors are still too small and non-robust to be directly useful for any real-world applications. In this paper, we describe NASA’s work in assessing and advancing the potential of quantum computing. We discuss advances in algorithms, both near- and longer-term, and the results of our explorations on current hardware as well as with simulations, including illustrating the benefits of algorithm-hardware codesign in the NISQ era. This work also includes physics-inspired classical algorithms that can be used at application scale today. We discuss innovative tools supporting the assessment and advancement of quantum computing, and describe improved methods for simulating quantum systems of various types on high performance computing systems that incorporate realistic error models. We provide an overview of recent methods for benchmarking, evaluating, and characterizing quantum hardware for error mitigation, computational purposes.

quantum computing↗

Assessing and advancing the potential of quantum computing: A NASA case study

Quantum computing is one of the most enticing computational paradigms with the potential to revolutionize diverse areas of future-generation computational systems. While quantum computing hardware has advanced rapidly, from tiny laboratory experiments to quantum chips that can outperform even the largest supercomputers on specialized computational tasks, these noisy-intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) processors are still too small and non-robust to be directly useful for any real-world applications. In this paper, we describe NASA’s work in assessing and advancing the potential of quantum computing. We discuss advances in algorithms, both near- and longer-term, and the results of our explorations on current hardware as well as with simulations, including illustrating the benefits of algorithm-hardware co-design in the NISQ era. This work also includes physics-inspired classical algorithms that can be used at application scale today. We discuss innovative tools supporting the assessment and advancement of quantum computing and describe improved methods for simulating quantum systems of various types on high-performance computing systems that incorporate realistic error models. We provide an overview of recent methods for benchmarking, evaluating, and characterizing quantum hardware for error mitigation, as well as insights into fundamental quantum physics that can be harnessed for computational purposes.

Rieffel, Eleanor G.↗

ChemComp: A Compilation Framework for Computing with Chemical Reaction Networks

The acceleration of scientific computation, data analytics, and artificial intelligence is driving a surge in computational requirements. Yet, state-of-the-art high-performance computing systems are approaching physical limitations that impede further significant improvements in energy efficiency. As we move towards post-exascale computing systems, innovative approaches are necessary to overcome this barrier in power consumption. Novel analog and hybrid digital-analog architectures hold promise for enhancing energy efficiency by several orders of magnitude. Biochemical computation stands out among the various solutions being explored due to its potential to enable new classes of devices with immense computational capabilities. These devices can capitalize on the inherent efficacy of biological cells in solving optimization problems and are scalable through increasing reaction system size or vessel capacity, potentially satisfying scientific computing's high-performance requirements. Nonetheless, several theoretical and practical limitations persist, including problem formulation and mapping to chemical reaction networks (CRNs) and implementation of actual CRN devices. In this paper, we propose a framework for biochemical computation using systems chemistry. We present the initial components of our approach: an abstract chemical reaction dialect implemented as a multi-level intermediate representation (MLIR) compiler extension and a pathway to represent mathematical problems with CRNs. To showcase the potential of this approach, we emulate a simplified chemical reservoir device. This work lays the groundwork for leveraging chemistry's computing potential in creating energy-efficient, high-performance computing systems tailored to contemporary computational needs.

artificial intelligence↗

Design and implementation of dynamic I/O control scheme for large scale distributed file systems

In this paper, we have analyzed the input/output (I/O) activities of Cori, which is a high-performance computing system at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Our analysis results indicate that most users do not adjust storage configurations but rather use the default settings. In addition, owing to the interference from many applications running simultaneously, the performance varies based on the system status. To configure file systems autonomously in complex environments, we developed DCA-IO, a dynamic distributed file system configuration adjustment algorithm that utilizes the system log information to adjust storage configurations automatically. Our scheme aims to improve the application performance and avoid interference from other applications without user intervention. Moreover, DCA-IO uses the existing system logs and does not require code modifications, an additional library, or user intervention. To demonstrate the effectiveness of DCA-IO, we performed experiments using I/O kernels of real applications in both an isolated small-sized Lustre environment and Cori. Our experimental results shows that our scheme can improve the performance of HPC applications by up to 263% with the default Lustre configuration.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Nuclear Science User Facilities High Performance Computing: Provide a Science Gateway for HPC Users

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), supported by the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) through the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF), provides direct access to the Barracuda Virtual Reactor and 18 Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) applications via a web-based science gateway developed using Open Ondemand on the INL high performance computing (HPC) systems. This gateway features the computational tools of the Nuclear Computational Resource Center (NCRC) and the computing resources of the INL high performance computing systems. These computational tools are a key foundation of collaboration and innovation in nuclear energy systems research. High performance computing resources and INL staff directly support the mission and objectives of DOE-NE. The Barracuda Virtual Reactor was the first science gateway deployed in Jan 2021 to support NSUF users. In July 2021, the science gateway was expanded to support access to NCRC codes for use across all supported INL HPC systems. The HPC science gateway currently supports 20 total applications. The gateway also includes access to training resources specific to NCRC tools.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Gaussian approximation versus nearly exact performance analysis of optical communication systems with PPM signaling and APD receivers

A 25-Mb/s direct-detection optical communication system that used Q = 4 PPM (pulse-position modulation) signaling was constructed and its performance measured under laboratory conditions. The system used a single-mode AlGaAs laser diode (lambda = 834 nm) and low-noise silicon avalanche photodiode (APD). A procedure for numerically computing system performance is given that uses the nearly exact Webb approximation of the true Conradi distribution for the APD output and does not require excessive amounts of computer time. Comparison revealed that modeling the APD ouptut as a Gaussian process under conditions of negligible background radiation and low (less than 10 to the -12 A) APD bulk leakage currents leads to substantial underestimates of optimal APD gain and overestimates of system bit error probability. Examples illustrate the breakdown of the Gaussian approximation in assessing system performance. The measured performance was in excellent agreement with that predicted by the computational procedure. The system achieved a bit error probability of 10 to the -6 at a received signal energy, corresponding to an average of 60 absorbed photons/bit and optimal APD gain of 700.

Davidson, Frederic M.↗

Closed-form solutions of performability

It is noted that if computing system performance is degradable then system evaluation must deal simultaneously with aspects of both performance and reliability. One approach is the evaluation of a system's performability which, relative to a specified performance variable Y, generally requires solution of the probability distribution function of Y. The feasibility of closed-form solutions of performability when Y is continuous are examined. In particular, the modeling of a degradable buffer/multiprocessor system is considered whose performance Y is the (normalized) average throughput rate realized during a bounded interval of time. Employing an approximate decomposition of the model, it is shown that a closed-form solution can indeed be obtained.

Meyer, J. F.↗

Parallel Programming Models and Systems for High Performance Computing. In: Emerging Research in Cloud Distributed Computing Systems

A parallel programming model is an abstraction of a parallel system that allows expression of both algorithms and shared data structures. To accommodate the diversity in parallel system architectures and user requirements, there are a variety of programming models including the models providing a shared memory view or a distributed memory view of the system. The programming models are implemented as libraries, language extensions, or compiler directives. This chapter provides a discussion on programming models and its implementations aimed at application developers, system software researchers, and hardware architects. The first part provides an overview of the programming models. The second part is an in-depth discussion on high-performance networking interface to implement the programming model. The last part of the chapter discusses implementation of a programming model with a case study. Each part of the chapter concludes with a discussion on current research trends and its impact on future architectures.

Venkata, Manjunath Gorentia↗

IOPro: a parallel I/O profiling and visualization framework for high-performance storage systems

Efficient execution of large-scale scientific applications requires high-performance computing systems designed to meet the I/O requirements. To achieve high-performance, such data-intensive parallel applications use a multi-layer layer I/O software stack, which consists of high-level I/O libraries such as PnetCDF and HDF5, the MPI library, and parallel file systems. To design efficient parallel scientific applications, understanding the complicated flow of I/O operations and the involved interactions among the libraries is quintessential. Such comprehension helps identify I/O bottlenecks and thus exploits the potential performance in different layers of the storage hierarchy. To profile the performance of individual components in the I/O stack and to understand complex interactions among them, we have implemented a GUI-based integrated profiling and analysis framework, IOPro. IOPro automatically generates an instrumented I/O stack, runs applications on it, and visualizes detailed statistics based on the user-specified metrics of interest. We present experimental results from two different real-life applications and show how our framework can be used in practice. By generating an end-to-end trace of the whole I/O stack and pinpointing I/O interference, IOPro aids in understanding I/O behavior and improving the I/O performance significantly.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

reV (The Renewable Energy Potential Model - Open Source) [SWR-21-59, SWR-20-20 and SWR-17-34]

The Renewable Energy Potential (reV) model is a platform for the detailed assessment of renewable energy resources and their geospatial intersection with grid infrastructure and land use characteristics. The reV model currently supports photovoltaic (PV), concentrating solar power (CSP), and land-based wind turbine technologies. Modules in the reV framework function at different spatial and temporal resolutions, allowing for the assessment of resource potential, technical potential, and supply curves at varying levels of detail. The platform runs on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) high-performance computing system, providing scalable and efficient performance from a single location up to a continent, for a single year or decades of time-series resource data. Coupled with NREL’s System Advisor Model (SAM), reV supports resource assessments from 5-minute to hourly temporal resolutions and supports the analysis of long-term (i.e., year-on-year) variability of renewable generation (e.g., interannual variability and exceedance probabilities).

Maclaurin, Galen↗

The Renewable Energy Potential (reV) Model: A Geospatial Platform for Technical Potential and Supply Curve Modeling

The Renewable Energy Potential (reV) model is a platform for detailed assessment of renewable energy (RE) resources and their geospatial intersection with grid infrastructure and land use characteristics. The reV model currently supports photovoltaic (PV), concentrating solar power (CSP) and land-based wind turbine technologies. Modules in the reV framework function at different spatial and temporal resolutions, allowing for assessment of resource potential, technical potential and supply curves at varying levels of detail. The platform runs on NREL's High Performance Computing system, providing scalable and efficient performance from a single location all the way up to continental scales, for a single year or decades of time series resource data. Coupled with NREL's System Advisor Model (SAM), reV supports resource assessment from 5-minute to hourly temporal resolution and provides for analysis of long-term (i.e., year-on-year) variability of RE generation (e.g., interannual variability and exceedance probabilities). Technical potential is measured as a function of resource potential and limitations put on developable land area defined by the user. For example, the user can limit development by land ownership, terrain, land use/cover, and urban areas, as well as custom inputs. Technology, grid interconnection and operation costs, based on the latest market data and future projections, are also embedded in the model. The supply curve module is a spatial sorting algorithm based on plant siting, grid interconnection cost, and regional competition, which provides a geographically discrete estimate of levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and supply (i.e., capacity) for specific renewable technologies. The reV model currently provides broad coverage across North America, South and Central Asia, South America and South Africa to inform national- and international-scale analyses as well as regional infrastructure and deployment planning.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

An Integrated Architecture for Onboard Spacecraft

As increasingly complex scientific and environmental observation spacecraft are deployed, the burden on the downlink assets, and ground-based systems complexity and cost is becoming a major problem. Already, the limitations of communications bandwidth and processing throughput limit the science data gathering, both in volume and in rate. This poses a dilemma to the scientist experimenter forcing choices between data collection and bandwidth/processing/archiving. Advances in ground based processing and space-to-Earth links have fallen behind the requirements for observation data, at increasing rates, over the last few decades. As NASA achieves its 40th anniversary, the ability to observe and capture phenomena of theoretical and practical interest to life on Earth far outstrips the ability to transfer, process, or store these data. NASA recognizes the need to invest on technological advancements that will enable both the space and ground systems to address the limitations. Spacecraft onboard computing power is a clear one. The capability of creating data products onboard the spacecraft adds a new level of flexibility to address the more demanding observation needs. Current spacecraft computing power is limited and incapable of addressing the needs of the new generation of observation satellites because extensive onboard data processing is required. Traditional spacecraft architectures only collect, package, and transmit to Earth the data acquired by multiple instruments. Conversely, the experience on developing ground data systems shows the need for high performance computing systems to process and create information from the instrumentation data. The expectation is that supercomputing technology is required to enable spacecraft to create information onboard. Moving supercomputing capability onboard spacecraft requires an approach that considers an integrated data architecture. Otherwise, it may simply convert a compute-bound problem into a communications bound problem, as has been shown numerous times in the context of massively parallel architectures. What is left to determine are the technologies that will enable spacecraft high performance computing.

Figueiredo, Marco A.↗

Benchmarking and Performance of the NASA Multiscale Analysis Tool

The NASA Multiscale Analysis Tool (NASMAT) is as a “plug and play,” software package which utilizes multiscale recursive micromechanics as a platform for massively multiscale modeling of hierarchical materials and structures subjected to thermomechanical. This paper is intended to give an overview of the design of NASMAT and how the design supports modularity, upgradability and maintainability, interoperability, and utility. First, the software architecture and hierarchy will be explored. Details on each of the 11 NASMAT procedures and the arrangement of NASMAT data will be presented. Application program interfaces (APIs) that were developed to facilitate the communication of NASMAT with other programs will be described. The intended application for NASMAT is massively multiscale modeling on high performance computing systems. As such, results benchmarking the performance of the integration of NASMAT with the Abaqus commercial finite element method software are also presented.

Multiscale Modeling↗

Accelerating Simulation for High-Fidelity PV Inverter System Reliability Assessment with High-Performance Computing

The overall cost of photovoltaic (PV) systems has shown a downward trend during the last decade; however, PV inverter failures account for the highest cost of operation and maintenance. To address this, reliability tools with powerful computation and better accuracy are required for the lifetime prediction and degradation evaluation of PV inverters. This paper proposes an event-driven parallel computing-based simulator. The proposed simulator applies high-performance computing techniques and other accessory optimization techniques-including cluster merging, adaptive model updates, and steady-state identification-to make reliability assessments for PV inverters under given input mission profiles and operating conditions with high efficiency and high fidelity. The main idea of the simulator and its workflow are introduced. Then, a demo PV inverter system simulator is implemented, and the speedup of the total simulations of the switching model reaches 123.03 times.

high-performance computing↗