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At least 163 records · Page 9

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NASA NTRS1992

Model-driven mapping onto distributed memory parallel computers

The author addresses the problem of exploiting the parallelism available in a program to efficiently employ the resources of the target machine in the context of building a mapping compiler for a distributed memory parallel machine. He demonstrates the effectiveness of using execution models to select the best mapping technique from among those available for a given program segment on a particular machine. Through analysis of the execution models for several mapping techniques for one class of programs on a linear processor array, it is shown that selecting the best technique for a particular program instance can make a significant difference in performance. On the other hand, the results of benchmarks from a mapping compiler for the Warp systolic array machine show that the execution models considered are accurate enough to select the best mapping technique for a given program.

Sussman, Alan↗

NASA NTRS1997

Parallel ALLSPD-3D: Speeding Up Combustor Analysis Via Parallel Processing

The ALLSPD-3D Computational Fluid Dynamics code for reacting flow simulation was run on a set of benchmark test cases to determine its parallel efficiency. These test cases included non-reacting and reacting flow simulations with varying numbers of processors. Also, the tests explored the effects of scaling the simulation with the number of processors in addition to distributing a constant size problem over an increasing number of processors. The test cases were run on a cluster of IBM RS/6000 Model 590 workstations with ethernet and ATM networking plus a shared memory SGI Power Challenge L workstation. The results indicate that the network capabilities significantly influence the parallel efficiency, i.e., a shared memory machine is fastest and ATM networking provides acceptable performance. The limitations of ethernet greatly hamper the rapid calculation of flows using ALLSPD-3D.

Fricker, David M.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Shared virtual memory and generalized speedup

Generalized speedup is defined as parallel speed over sequential speed. The generalized speedup and its relation with other existing performance metrics, such as traditional speedup, efficiency, scalability, etc., are carefully studied. In terms of the introduced asymptotic speed, it was shown that the difference between the generalized speedup and the traditional speedup lies in the definition of the efficiency of uniprocessor processing, which is a very important issue in shared virtual memory machines. A scientific application was implemented on a KSR-1 parallel computer. Experimental and theoretical results show that the generalized speedup is distinct from the traditional speedup and provides a more reasonable measurement. In the study of different speedups, various causes of superlinear speedup are also presented.

Sun, Xian-He↗

NASA NTRS1980

Evaluation of KU-band SPA and EA-1 software, task no. 2

The software for selected space shuttle components are examined for potential problem areas and possible suboptimal coding techniques. Errors discovered in the procedure termination routine are discussed. The technique used to store status flags is found not to be as efficient as possible, from both the standpoints of memory usage and processing time. Self-test routines are examined with the intent of providing a more detailed description of multiplexer/demultiplexer and display and control outputs. An example of a reconfiguration is presented with a block diagram to indicate the critical paths. A cross-reference table of status flags is given to aid in tracing the functional activity of software modules.

Dobbs, J.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Two-dimensional nonsteady viscous flow simulation on the Navier-Stokes computer miniNode

The needs of large-scale scientific computation are outpacing the growth in performance of mainframe supercomputers. In particular, problems in fluid mechanics involving complex flow simulations require far more speed and capacity than that provided by current and proposed Class VI supercomputers. To address this concern, the Navier-Stokes Computer (NSC) was developed. The NSC is a parallel-processing machine, comprised of individual Nodes, each comparable in performance to current supercomputers. The global architecture is that of a hypercube, and a 128-Node NSC has been designed. New architectural features, such as a reconfigurable many-function ALU pipeline and a multifunction memory-ALU switch, have provided the capability to efficiently implement a wide range of algorithms. Efficient algorithms typically involve numerically intensive tasks, which often include conditional operations. These operations may be efficiently implemented on the NSC without, in general, sacrificing vector-processing speed. To illustrate the architecture, programming, and several of the capabilities of the NSC, the simulation of two-dimensional, nonsteady viscous flows on a prototype Node, called the miniNode, is presented.

Nosenchuck, Daniel M.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Simulations of transition and turbulence on the Navier-Stokes computer

The Navier-Stokes Computer (NSC) consists of multiple local memory parallel processors interconnected in a hypercube network. Efficient implementation of algorithms on the NSC thus requires the effective utilization of both the coarse and fine grain paralelism inherent in the architectural design. The basic approach to implementing an algorithm on the NSC is presented herein. The particular finite-difference algorithm considered was developed for performing transition and turbulence simulations by direct solution of the time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The suitability of this algorithm for performing simulations of the isotropic turbulence problem is verified from computations performed on a Cray 2. Projected timing results for the algorithm on the NSC itself are presented for both the isotropic turbulence and laminar turbulent transition problems.

Krist, S. E.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Storage and computationally efficient permutations of factorized covariance and square-root information matrices

A unified method to permute vector-stored upper-triangular diagonal factorized covariance (UD) and vector stored upper-triangular square-root information filter (SRIF) arrays is presented. The method involves cyclical permutation of the rows and columns of the arrays and retriangularization with appropriate square-root-free fast Givens rotations or elementary slow Givens reflections. A minimal amount of computation is performed and only one scratch vector of size N is required, where N is the column dimension of the arrays. To make the method efficient for large SRIF arrays on a virtual memory machine, three additional scratch vectors each of size N are used to avoid expensive paging faults. The method discussed is compared with the methods and routines of Bierman's Estimation Subroutine Library (ESL).

Muellerschoen, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Using single buffers and data reorganization to implement a multi-megasample fast Fourier transform

Data ordering in large fast Fourier transforms (FFT's) is both conceptually and implementationally difficult. Discribed here is a method of visualizing data orderings as vectors of address bits, which enables the engineer to use more efficient data orderings and reduce double-buffer memory designs. Also detailed are the difficulties and algorithmic solutions involved in FFT lengths up to 4 megasamples (Msamples) and sample rates up to 80 MHz.

Brown, R. D.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Development and application of GASP 2.0

GASP 2.0 represents a major new release of the computational fluid dynamics code in wide use by the aerospace community. The authors have spent the last two years analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the previous version of the finite-rate chemistry, Navier Stokes solution algorithm. What has resulted is a completely redesigned computer code that offers two to four times the performance of previous versions while requiring as little as one quarter of the memory requirements. In addition to the improvements in efficiency over the original code, Version 2.0 contains many new features. A brief discussion of the improvements made to GASP, and an application using GASP 2.0 which demonstrates some of the new features are presented.

Mcgrory, W. D.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Pictorial communication in virtual and real environments

Papers about the communication between human users and machines in real and synthetic environments are presented. Individual topics addressed include: pictorial communication, distortions in memory for visual displays, cartography and map displays, efficiency of graphical perception, volumetric visualization of 3D data, spatial displays to increase pilot situational awareness, teleoperation of land vehicles, computer graphics system for visualizing spacecraft in orbit, visual display aid for orbital maneuvering, multiaxis control in telemanipulation and vehicle guidance, visual enhancements in pick-and-place tasks, target axis effects under transformed visual-motor mappings, adapting to variable prismatic displacement. Also discussed are: spatial vision within egocentric and exocentric frames of reference, sensory conflict in motion sickness, interactions of form and orientation, perception of geometrical structure from congruence, prediction of three-dimensionality across continuous surfaces, effects of viewpoint in the virtual space of pictures, visual slant underestimation, spatial constraints of stereopsis in video displays, stereoscopic stance perception, paradoxical monocular stereopsis and perspective vergence. (No individual items are abstracted in this volume)

Ellis, Stephen R.↗

NASA NTRS1997

A Multiblock Approach for Calculating Incompressible Fluid Flows on Unstructured Grids

A multiblock approach is presented for solving two-dimensional incompressible turbulent flows on unstructured grids. The artificial compressibility form of the governing equations is solved by a vertex-centered, finite-volume implicit scheme which uses a backward Euler time discretization. Point Gauss-Seidel relaxations are used to solve the linear system of equations at each time step. This work introduces a multiblock strategy to the solution procedure, which greatly improves the efficiency of the algorithm by significantly reducing the memory requirements while not increasing the CPU time. Results presented in this work shows that the current multiblock algorithm requires 70% less memory than the single block algorithm.

Sheng, Chunhua↗

NASA NTRS2000

Three-Dimensional Incompressible Navier-Stokes Flow Computations about Complete Configurations Using a Multiblock Unstructured Grid Approach

A multiblock unstructured grid approach is presented for solving three-dimensional incompressible inviscid and viscous turbulent flows about complete configurations. The artificial compressibility form of the governing equations is solved by a node-based, finite volume implicit scheme which uses a backward Euler time discretization. Point Gauss-Seidel relaxations are used to solve the linear system of equations at each time step. This work employs a multiblock strategy to the solution procedure, which greatly improves the efficiency of the algorithm by significantly reducing the memory requirements by a factor of 5 over the single-grid algorithm while maintaining a similar convergence behavior. The numerical accuracy of solutions is assessed by comparing with the experimental data for a submarine with stem appendages and a high-lift configuration.

Sheng, Chunhua↗

NASA NTRS1997

Efficacy of Code Optimization on Cache-based Processors

The current common wisdom in the U.S. is that the powerful, cost-effective supercomputers of tomorrow will be based on commodity (RISC) micro-processors with cache memories. Already, most distributed systems in the world use such hardware as building blocks. This shift away from vector supercomputers and towards cache-based systems has brought about a change in programming paradigm, even when ignoring issues of parallelism. Vector machines require inner-loop independence and regular, non-pathological memory strides (usually this means: non-power-of-two strides) to allow efficient vectorization of array operations. Cache-based systems require spatial and temporal locality of data, so that data once read from main memory and stored in high-speed cache memory is used optimally before being written back to main memory. This means that the most cache-friendly array operations are those that feature zero or unit stride, so that each unit of data read from main memory (a cache line) contains information for the next iteration in the loop. Moreover, loops ought to be 'fat', meaning that as many operations as possible are performed on cache data-provided instruction caches do not overflow and enough registers are available. If unit stride is not possible, for example because of some data dependency, then care must be taken to avoid pathological strides, just ads on vector computers. For cache-based systems the issues are more complex, due to the effects of associativity and of non-unit block (cache line) size. But there is more to the story. Most modern micro-processors are superscalar, which means that they can issue several (arithmetic) instructions per clock cycle, provided that there are enough independent instructions in the loop body. This is another argument for providing fat loop bodies. With these restrictions, it appears fairly straightforward to produce code that will run efficiently on any cache-based system. It can be argued that although some of the important computational algorithms employed at NASA Ames require different programming styles on vector machines and cache-based machines, respectively, neither architecture class appeared to be favored by particular algorithms in principle. Practice tells us that the situation is more complicated. This report presents observations and some analysis of performance tuning for cache-based systems. We point out several counterintuitive results that serve as a cautionary reminder that memory accesses are not the only factors that determine performance, and that within the class of cache-based systems, significant differences exist.

VanderWijngaart, Rob F.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Compact Holographic Data Storage

NASA's future missions would require massive high-speed onboard data storage capability to Space Science missions. For Space Science, such as the Europa Lander mission, the onboard data storage requirements would be focused on maximizing the spacecraft's ability to survive fault conditions (i.e., no loss in stored science data when spacecraft enters the 'safe mode') and autonomously recover from them during NASA's long-life and deep space missions. This would require the development of non-volatile memory. In order to survive in the stringent environment during space exploration missions, onboard memory requirements would also include: (1) survive a high radiation environment (1 Mrad), (2) operate effectively and efficiently for a very long time (10 years), and (3) sustain at least a billion write cycles. Therefore, memory technologies requirements of NASA's Earth Science and Space Science missions are large capacity, non-volatility, high-transfer rate, high radiation resistance, high storage density, and high power efficiency. JPL, under current sponsorship from NASA Space Science and Earth Science Programs, is developing a high-density, nonvolatile and rad-hard Compact Holographic Data Storage (CHDS) system to enable large-capacity, high-speed, low power consumption, and read/write of data in a space environment. The entire read/write operation will be controlled with electrooptic mechanism without any moving parts. This CHDS will consist of laser diodes, photorefractive crystal, spatial light modulator, photodetector array, and I/O electronic interface. In operation, pages of information would be recorded and retrieved with random access and high-speed. The nonvolatile, rad-hard characteristics of the holographic memory will provide a revolutionary memory technology meeting the high radiation challenge facing the Europa Lander mission. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Chao, T. H.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Representation-Independent Iteration of Sparse Data Arrays

An approach is defined that describes a method of iterating over massively large arrays containing sparse data using an approach that is implementation independent of how the contents of the sparse arrays are laid out in memory. What is unique and important here is the decoupling of the iteration over the sparse set of array elements from how they are internally represented in memory. This enables this approach to be backward compatible with existing schemes for representing sparse arrays as well as new approaches. What is novel here is a new approach for efficiently iterating over sparse arrays that is independent of the underlying memory layout representation of the array. A functional interface is defined for implementing sparse arrays in any modern programming language with a particular focus for the Chapel programming language. Examples are provided that show the translation of a loop that computes a matrix vector product into this representation for both the distributed and not-distributed cases. This work is directly applicable to NASA and its High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) program that JPL and our current program are engaged in. The goal of this program is to create powerful, scalable, and economically viable high-powered computer systems suitable for use in national security and industry by 2010. This is important to NASA for its computationally intensive requirements for analyzing and understanding the volumes of science data from our returned missions.

James, Mark↗

NASA NTRS1999

A High-Order Method Using Unstructured Grids for the Aeroacoustic Analysis of Realistic Aircraft Configurations

A method for the prediction of acoustic scatter from complex geometries is presented. The discontinuous Galerkin method provides a framework for the development of a high-order method using unstructured grids. The method's compact form contributes to its accuracy and efficiency, and makes the method well suited for distributed memory parallel computing platforms. Mesh refinement studies are presented to validate the expected convergence properties of the method, and to establish the absolute levels of a error one can expect at a given level of resolution. For a two-dimensional shear layer instability wave and for three-dimensional wave propagation, the method is demonstrated to be insensitive to mesh smoothness. Simulations of scatter from a two-dimensional slat configuration and a three-dimensional blended-wing-body demonstrate the capability of the method to efficiently treat realistic geometries.

Atkins, Harold L.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Comparison of Space Shuttle Hot Gas Manifold analysis to air flow data

This paper summarizes several recent analyses of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Hot Gas Manifold and compares predicted flow environments to air flow data. Codes used in these analyses include INS3D, PAGE, PHOENICS, and VAST. Both laminar (Re = 250, M = 0.30) and turbulent (Re = 1.9 million, M = 0.30) results are discussed, with the latter being compared to data for system losses, outer wall static pressures, and manifold exit Mach number profiles. Comparison of predicted results for the turbulent case to air flow data shows that the analysis using INS3D predicted system losses within 1 percent error, while the PHOENICS, PAGE, and VAST codes erred by 31, 35, and 47 percent, respectively. The INS3D, PHOENICS, and PAGE codes did a reasonable job of predicting outer wall static pressure, while the PHOENICS code predicted exit Mach number profiles with acceptable accuracy. INS3D was approximately an order of magnitude more efficient than the other codes in terms of code speed and memory requirements. In general, it is seen that complex internal flows in manifold-like geometries can be predicted with a limited degree of confidence, and further development is necessary to improve both efficiency and accuracy of codes if they are to be used as design tools for complex three-dimensional geometries.

Mcconnaughey, P. K.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Improved Collision-Detection Method for Robotic Manipulator

An improved method has been devised for the computational prediction of a collision between (1) a robotic manipulator and (2) another part of the robot or an external object in the vicinity of the robot. The method is intended to be used to test commanded manipulator trajectories in advance so that execution of the commands can be stopped before damage is done. The method involves utilization of both (1) mathematical models of the robot and its environment constructed manually prior to operation and (2) similar models constructed automatically from sensory data acquired during operation. The representation of objects in this method is simpler and more efficient (with respect to both computation time and computer memory), relative to the representations used in most prior methods. The present method was developed especially for use on a robotic land vehicle (rover) equipped with a manipulator arm and a vision system that includes stereoscopic electronic cameras. In this method, objects are represented and collisions detected by use of a previously developed technique known in the art as the method of oriented bounding boxes (OBBs). As the name of this technique indicates, an object is represented approximately, for computational purposes, by a box that encloses its outer boundary. Because many parts of a robotic manipulator are cylindrical, the OBB method has been extended in this method to enable the approximate representation of cylindrical parts by use of octagonal or other multiple-OBB assemblies denoted oriented bounding prisms (OBPs), as in the example of Figure 1. Unlike prior methods, the OBB/OBP method does not require any divisions or transcendental functions; this feature leads to greater robustness and numerical accuracy. The OBB/OBP method was selected for incorporation into the present method because it offers the best compromise between accuracy on the one hand and computational efficiency (and thus computational speed) on the other hand.

Leger, Chris↗