Project description
Spatial accelerator programming could keep Moore’s law going
Moore’s law – the observation that the number of transistors that can fit on a microchip double every two years – is reaching its limit. Latest advances in computer architecture and silicon design enable the integration of cost-effective specialised accelerators into complex systems. However, programming these heterogeneous spatial systems that range from systems on a chip to supercomputers with million cores is a fundamental challenge. Prevalent parallel programming abstractions largely ignore the computation structure and guide programmers to design threads of execution that are scheduled to the machine. The EU-funded PSAP project plans to depart from this temporal model to a spatial formulation one that expresses programmes as parametric graphs that are mapped as first-class objects by a human-guided compilation system.
Objective
We propose a productive and efficient programming model to overcome the challenges posed by the end of Moores law. Our model bases on a fundamentally new spatial viewpoint that considers the computational structure of applications. The growth of the computing industry as well as the development of society at large has relied for 50 years on an exponential scaling law that is now coming to an end. The combination of multiple specialized components into a fundamentally heterogeneous system is one of the most promising approaches that drives the IT industry. Latest advances in computer architecture and silicon design enable cost-effective specialized accelerators. Those range from single-purpose designs, such as deep neural network chips, to general purpose graphics processing units and are combined into complex systems. However, programming these heterogeneous spatial systems that range from single systems on chip to million-core supercomputers is a fundamental challenge of our time. Prevalent parallel programming abstractions largely ignore the structure of the computation and guide programmers to design threads of execution that are scheduled to the machine. We depart from this temporal model to a spatial formulation where we express programs as parametric graphs that are mapped as first-class objects by a human-guided compilation system. We ensure productivity by designing a Python-based frontend and integrate the system with modern web technology. Our programming, compilation, and tuning system will substantially advance the state of the art in computing by supporting the graphical mapping of program graphs to spatial accelerators. We will demonstrate our methods on three challenging real-world applications in important domains. We strongly believe that, without holistic spatial programming, the growing complexity and inefficiency of heterogeneous programming will create a scaling wall that will severely limit our future computational capabilities.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8092 Zuerich
Switzerland
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