Communications of the ACM
Scientists Explore Energy Efficiency in Multi-Scale Computing Systems
Credit: The Multiscale Systems Center
The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and nine other universities are collaborating on the Multi-Scale Systems Center (MuSyC), a new research center that will focus on improving the design of computing systems, particularly as it relates to energy efficiency.
"Energy is one of the key issues to be solved in order for systems to work more efficiently," says UCSD professor Tajana Simunic Rosing. "At a very small scale such as a brain-machine interface, without energy you cannot do anything at all. At a very large scale such as a data center, if you are not efficient about how you deal with energy, you go bankrupt."
The researchers say the project's multi-scale approach comes from the recognition that a new generation of applications is emerging that will run in distributed form on platforms that unite high-performance computing clusters with broad classes of mobile systems and large groups of sensors. By focusing on energy efficiency, MuSyC plans to lay a foundation for "energy smart" distributed systems that are aware of the balance between energy availability and demand, and are capable of adjusting their behavior through dynamic and adaptive optimization.
The center's research agenda is initially structured to explore distributed sensor and control systems, large-scale systems, and small-scale systems. The center also may explore intermediate-scale systems such as mobile and portable devices, depending on additional funding after the center's first year of operation.
From UCSD News
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