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High-performance computing bolsters wireless communications research
Research in wireless communications at Clemson is benefiting from the recent addition of the first computer system on campus to surpass an important performance threshold. The system consists of 272 “core” computers that are connected together to yield performance several hundred times that of a typical new desktop computer. It can perform a key set of mathematical operations at a rate of over one trillion operations per second - earning it the title of a “teraflop system” in computer-industry jargon. Professors Dan Noneaker, Harlan Russell, and Michael Pursley, all of whom are faculty in the Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, purchased the system with an equipment grant from the Office of Naval Research.
Faculty and students at Clemson will use the system as a tool for research into new communication techniques that will improve the capabilities and robustness of networks of digital radios for military communications. Noneaker elaborates, “Improvements in the networks will translate directly into increased safety for troops and more successful outcomes for their missions.” Russell adds, “In addition, many of the resulting discoveries can be translated immediately into technologies appropriate for use by public-safety organizations during disaster-recovery operations (such as the response to a hurricane). These new technologies will also have application in cellular communications and other commercial systems.”
According to Russell, the computing power provided by the newly purchased system will allow more precise modeling and consideration of far more complex scenarios than would have been possible without it.
Professor Dan Noneaker (left), James Pepin (center), chief technology officer, and Professor Harlan Russell, stand in front of a new high performance computer system acquired through a grant from the Office of Naval Research.
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