Enabling Computational Dynamics in Distributed Computing Environments Using a Heterogeneous Computing Template

Abstract

This paper describes a software infrastructure made up of tools and libraries designed to assist developers in implementing computational dynamics applications running on heterogeneous INTRODUCTIONOver the last five years it has become apparent that future increases in computational speed are not going to be fueled by advances in sequential computing technology. There are three main walls that the sequential computing model has hit [1]. Firstly, there is the power dissipation wall caused by the amount of energy that is dissipated per unit area by ever smaller transistors. On a per unit area basis, the amount of energy dissipated by a Pentium 4 processor comes slightly short of that associated with a nuclear power plant. Since the amount of power dissipated scales with the square of the clock frequency, steady further clock frequency increases, which in the past were responsible for most of the processing speed gains, are unlikely. Forced cooling solutions could increase absolute clock rates, but come at a prohibitively high price.The second wall, that is, the memory wall, arose in sequential computing as a manifestation of the gap between