Hamburg University: Cloud Computing
SoC network uses partial reconfiguration technology to provide cloud computing platform for complex algorithms/data sets.
Rather than install faster, more power-hungry supercomputers to tackle increasingly complex scientific algorithms, universities and private companies are applying distributed platforms upon which projects like SETI@home compute their data using thousands of personal computers. Current distributed computing networks typically use CPUs or GPUs to compute the project data. FPGAs, too, are being harnessed in projects like COPACOBANA, which employs 120 Xilinx® FPGAs to crack DES-encrypted files using brute-force processing. But in this case, the FPGAs are all collected in one place—an expensive proposition not appropriate for small university or company budgets.
Currently FPGAs are not noted as a distributed computing utility because their use demands the involvement of a PC to continually reconfigure the whole FPGA with a new bitstream. But now, with the application of the Xilinx partial-reconfiguration technology, it’s feasible to design FPGA-based clients for a distributed computing network. A team at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences created a prototype for such a client and implemented it in a single FPGA. They developed the SoC client for a Xilinx FPGA. A MicroBlaze™ processor runs the client’s software, which manages partial reconfigurations along with bitstream and data exchanges.
Additional Information
- Read the complete article, “Accelerating Distributed Computing with FPGAs,” in Xcell Journal Issue 79.