Design Tool for Metaproblems

SUMMARY

This project would develop a design tool for software development of metaproblems on a cluster of heterogenuous high performance parallel architectures.

PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS

NPAC, Syracuse University
CASE Center, Syracuse University
School of Information Studies, Syracuse University
Booz Allen &Hamilton

KEY CONTACTS

Geoffrey Fox | gcf@npac.syr.edu | (315) 443-4741
Salim Hariri | hariri@@cat.syr.edu | (315) 443-4282
Sanjay Ranka | ranka@top.cis.syr.edu | (315) 443-4457
Judith Berkey | jberkey@@ads.com | (703) 902-7176

IMPACT

The future of high performance computing lies in the ability to develop parallel software methodologies that will map ``heteroproblems'' onto a ``heterocomputer'' (a cluster of heterogeneous high performance parallel architectures).

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Although parallel computers are widely available, the number of users that use parallel machines for real-world problems is small in comparison to those relying on conventional supercomputers for solving their computationally intensive applications. There are two reasons for this. First, parallel computer systems have only recently become powerful enough to outperform conventional supercomputers. Second, and more importantly, there exists limited machine-independent software development support for parallel machines.

Our approach to developing the parallel software design methodology will be based upon the Northeast Parallel Architectures Center (NPAC) experiences in solving real world problems on their parallel computation facilities and Booz Allen &Hamilton expertise in traditional software engineering. In this project, we will be investigating the issues and requirements of parallel software development methodology and the type of parallelism inherently available in C3I applications. We will also develop a high Performance Design Language (HPDL), a hierarchical language, that supports data parallelism as well as functional parallelism. In the second phase of this effort, we will be developing an architecture independent parallel software design tool.

An Example of a Metaproblem