Throughout the 50 or more years of the modern computing era, virtually all machines ranging from laptops to smart phones have had one feature in common: a fixed, conventional \u201cone size fits all\u201d processor.\u00a0 This means that software developers must craft applications to match the inflexible design of the processor, rather than the other way around.<\/p>\n
Within the next 10 to 20 years, however, scientists hope to have many computers moving in a new direction, one that will enable machines to adapt easily to a wide range of software applications. The researchers like to call it \u201cmorphing.\u201d It is an advance that will make computers run faster, and save energy as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a new and innovative way to build and use computers,\u201d says Alan George, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida and director of the Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing, or CHREC (pronounced \u201cshreck\u201d), a research center based at four major universities with more than two dozen industry and government partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith reconfigurable computing, the architecture of the processor is adaptive, and thus can be customized to match the unique needs of each application,\u201d he adds. \u201cBy changing the mindset of computing, from processor-centric to application-centric, reconfigurable computing can perform at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional servers or supercomputers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new design, for example, ultimately could transform computational biology, providing computers that could analyze DNA in a matter of seconds or minutes, rather than hours or days, or sequence genes in order to detect disease, or identify the best treatments for individual patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt won\u2019t replace conventional computing, but it will speed up certain aspects of computing, with much less energy consumption,\u201d says Herman Lam, associate professor of electrical and computing engineering at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n
Lam, who helped develop the center\u2019s Novo-G supercomputer, believed to be the world\u2019s most powerful reconfigurable computer, says the impact likely will be greatest in data analysis.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive or ten years ago, the big bottleneck in many science domains was the inability to collect or generate enough data,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cToday, machines are efficient at producing data, and the bottleneck now is that there is too much data, and computers can\u2019t analyze it quickly. That\u2019s what\u2019s going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Science Foundation currently provides the University of Florida, the lead institution for CHREC, with $116,000 annually over five years, and $66,000 to each of its three research partners, which include Brigham Young University, George Washington University and Virginia Tech.\u00a0 Most of the center\u2019s funding, however, comes from industry support, a consortium that includes such companies as processor giant Intel, The Boeing Co., Monsanto, Honeywell Aerospace and Lockheed Martin, among many others.<\/p>\n
Traditional computers with fixed processors can perform many tasks. But they need a substantial amount of overhead in space and energy. On the other hand, special-purpose, or \u201cdomain specific\u201d computers, can perform certain tasks very well, but cannot adapt to new ones.<\/p>\n
Reconfigurable computers make the best of both worlds. Using devices such as field-programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs, they allow the processor to \u201cmorph,\u201d that is, rearrange its internal circuitry, sort of like children\u2019s Legos, to create the right architecture\u2019 for each job that comes along.<\/p>\n
\u201cRather than coming up with one architecture that\u2019s good for many applications, we\u2019ve come up with one that\u2019s adaptable,\u201d George says. \u201cWe configure it one way for one application, then reconfigure it for another. It\u2019s like Lego blocks. Instead of giving a child a toy truck or a cowboy figure, give him a bunch of Lego blocks in different sizes and shapes and he can make whatever he wants, and then five minutes later, he can make something else.\u00a0 One minute it\u2019s this, and then five minutes later, it\u2019s something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researchers believe that eventually most computers will become, over time, increasingly more reconfigurable.\u00a0 \u201cWe see this as a ubiquitous technology, even if it won\u2019t always be visible to the user,\u201d George says.\u00a0 \u201cInevitably, this is the route most computers will have to take in one form or another.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Novo-G computer uses 288 reconfigurable processors, rivaling the speed of the world\u2019s largest supercomputers for some applications, but at vastly less cost, size, power, and cooling, according to the researchers. Conventional supercomputers, for example, which can be the size of a large building, often require millions of watts of electrical power, and produce considerable heat, while Novo-G is about the size of two home refrigerators, and uses less than 12,000 watts, according to the researchers.<\/p>\n
Novo-G currently is involved in several projects, using applications in genomic research, cancer diagnosis, investment finance, signal and image processing and plant science.\u00a0 Monsanto, for example, is working with center researchers \u201cto come up with new and better ways to make crops resistant to drought and pests,\u201d George says. \u201cMuch of this is done using computational techniques. But the company is finding it increasingly difficult to analyze because the data are so massive and detailed. They can\u2019t process it.\u00a0 They need a computer that can adapt to the unique nature of all this information, which traditional computers can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n
George predicts that reconfigurable computers ultimately will prompt a dramatic shift in personalized medicine, enabling physicians to design custom treatments based on a patient\u2019s individual genetic profile.\u00a0 \u201cThese computers will have the ability to customize and thereby rapidly process the unique data for each patient,\u201d George says.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll be able to go to the doctor and have personalized treatment for whatever ailment you have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lam agrees, adding that scientific research also likely will receive a huge boost from the new technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of science depends on computers, and some of it depends on computers doing a lot of things fast,\u201d Lam says. \u201cIt\u2019s not too effective if it takes two hours every time you try something. But if you can do an experiment that takes 30 seconds, instead of two hours, you could change the way you do science. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen. With reconfigurable computers, there could be a fundamental change in the way people do science.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Throughout the 50 or more years of the modern computing era, virtually all machines ranging from laptops to smart phones have had one feature in common: a fixed, conventional \u201cone size fits all\u201d processor.\u00a0 This means that software developers must craft applications to match the inflexible design of the processor, rather than the other way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2592,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n