Maxeler

Computing In Space

Speaker

Georgi Gaydadjiev

Abstract

For a long time all atomic arithmetic and data storage structures of computer systems were designed as two-dimensional (2D) structures on silicon. Currently, processor vendors offer chips with steadily growing numbers of cores and recent circuits started to grow in the third dimension by integrating silicon dies on the top of each other. All of this results in severe increases of the programming complexity.

To date, predominately the one-dimensional (sequential) view of computer system organisation and behaviour is used for programmer's convenience. This forms a severe obstacle in exploiting all of the available advantages that the spatial organisation at the silicon surface enables. To address this, a more natural, at least 2D view of computer systems is required to closely represent the physical reality in both space and time. This calls for radically novel approaches towards programming methods.

Computing in space allows designers to express complex mathematical operations in a more natural, spatially-aware way and map them on the underlying 2D hardware resources. OpenSPL is one such approach that can be used to partition, lay out and optimise programs at all levels from high-level algorithmic transformations down to individual custom bit manipulations.

In addition, the OpenSPL execution model enables highly efficient scheduling (or better called choreography) of all basic computational actions with the guarantee of no side effects. This talks presents the principles of computing is space and the OpenSPL programming model.

Furthermore, we show how Maxeler Technologies commercialises computing in space with its high-performance dataflow computing technology targeting a range of domains including computational finance, science, engineering, medicine and life sciences.

Speaker Bio

Georgi Gaydadjiev is the VP of Dataflow Software Engineering at Maxeler Technologies. Georgi Gaydadjiev has a long lasting experience in designing various computer systems in both Industry and Academia for more than 25 years. Most recently, he was granted a Chaired Professorship in Computer Systems Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

Georgi has three Best Paper Awards (ICS-10, USENIX/SAGE-06), one of his projects won CES Design & Engineering Showcase Award in 1999 and his academic research for the last 12 years was funded by the European Commission, National Agencies in the Netherlands and Sweden and Google in USA.