A General Purpose Compute Node
has 15 computers, pictured above.
· 12 x RPi A+ Primary Computers perform
the scientific work that the system is designed
to accomplish.
· 3 x RPi B Managers orchestrate workflow,
data and communication.
raspberrypi.org
12 x Raspberry Pi Model A+64bit ARM Cortex-53
Quad-Core 1.4GHz 3 x Raspberry Pi Model B
64bit ARM Cortex-A72
Quad-Core 1.5 GHz Each individual RPi has a Quad-Core Processor with 4 Central Processing Unit (CPU) Cores. Each CPU Core can perform an independent computational task. A General Purpose Compute Node has a total of 60 CPU Cores. Compute Node Workflow · Primary Computation RPi B Managers divide the workload into partitions, preparing data and computational tasks for up to 48 CPU Cores on 12 RPi A+ Primary Computers. Primary Computers deliver processed data back to Managers upon completion. Managers consolidate processed data, checking for accuracy and consistency. Lastly, managers send processed data from the Compute Node to the project's final inventory. Compute Node Software · Scientific Libraries, Methods and Tools Scientific libraries, methods and tools used on this architecture are created de novo and inspired by leadership initiatives of the NIH Biowulf Cluster ² and Department of Energy National Laboratories ³. · Supercomputing.life Applications Supercomputing.life applications support scientific research and are developed with databases ⁴ from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a division of the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health in the United States.
These applications are collectively referred to as
the Learning Health Systems and are accessible
by client applications such as OpenMD.life
This machine teaching platform benefits from
natural intelligence of users around the world.
Operational Performance
· Initial Deployment
Compute Nodes began operation in Q2 2019
performing CPU intensive language processing
for the Learning Health Systems.
· Utilitization
The utilization profile of a Compute Node typically
has 20 to 35 CPU Cores in continuous parallel
operation for several hours up to several days.
Technical measures of processor speed are less
relevant than the number of independent tasks
performed simultaneously.
· Developer Productivity
Engineered to maximize performance of developers
through automation and ease of use, Compute Node
Architecture eliminates productivity barriers for rapid
prototyping, programming, optimizing and deploying
supercomputing systems.
Easily deploying 1,000 computational tasks with no
complexity burden is a practical measure of system
success from the perspective of a developer.
· Operations per second
Computing benchmarks measure floating-point
operations per second (FLOPS).
The Compute Nodes described here are capable of...
· 64 GigaFLOPS peak CPU
primary computation
· 85 GigaFLOPS peak CPU
total computation
Sustained operation is kept below
50 GigaFLOPS of primary computation.
· Scalability
An indefinite number of Compute Nodes can work
together to accomplish computational goals.
This scalability is a motivating design requirement
of the Compute Node Architecture.
· Tera Scale · 1012 FLOPS
25 Compute Nodes are estimated to sustain
1 TeraFLOP using 1,000 CPU Cores.
· Peta Scale · 1015 FLOPS
25,000 Compute Nodes are estimated to sustain
1 PetaFLOP using 1,000,000 CPU Cores.
· Exa Scale · 1018 FLOPS
25,000,000 Compute Nodes are estimated to sustain
1 ExaFLOP using 1,000,000,000 CPU Cores.
Exascale computing is a significant milestone
in computer science and engineering.
Compute Node Costs
· Hardware
Compute Node hardware costs less than $1,000.
25 Compute Nodes with 1,500 total CPU Cores
cost ~ $15,000 in hardware per availability.
· Operation
Operating costs are primarily determined by
software and hardware engineering labor.
Overall Assessment
· Summary
Overall performance has met high expectations
with no technical issues.
The architecture has proven to be scalable and
adaptive for advanced computational research.