Model Coupling between the Weather Research and Forecasting Model and the DPRI Large Eddy Simulator for Urban Flows on GPU-accelerated Multicore Systems

In this report we present a novel approach to model coupling for shared-memory multicore systems hosting OpenCL-compliant accelerators, which we call The Glasgow Model Coupling Framework (GMCF). We discuss the implementation of a prototype of GMCF and its application to coupling the Weather Research and Forecasting Model and an OpenCL-accelerated version of the Large Eddy Simulator for Urban Flows (LES) developed at DPRI. The first stage of this work concerned the OpenCL port of the LES. The methodology used for the OpenCL port is a combination of automated analysis and code generation and rule-based manual parallelization. For the evaluation, the non-OpenCL LES code was compiled using gfortran, fort and pgfortran}, in each case with auto-parallelization and auto-vectorization. The OpenCL-accelerated version of the LES achieves a 7 times speed-up on a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 GPGPU, compared to the fastest possible compilation of the original code running on a 12-core Intel Xeon E5-2640. In the second stage of this work, we built the Glasgow Model Coupling Framework and successfully used it to couple an OpenMP-parallelized WRF instance with an OpenCL LES instance which runs the LES code on the GPGPI. The system requires only very minimal changes to the original code. The report discusses the rationale, aims, approach and implementation details of this work.Comment: This work was conducted during a research visit at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University, supported by an EPSRC Overseas Travel Grant, EP/L026201/

Evolution of Ada technology in the flight dynamics area: Implementation/testing phase analysis

An analysis is presented of the software engineering issues related to the use of Ada for the implementation and system testing phases of four Ada projects developed in the flight dynamics area. These projects reflect an evolving understanding of more effective use of Ada features. In addition, the testing methodology used on these projects has changed substantially from that used on previous FORTRAN projects

A study of systems implementation languages for the POCCNET system

The results are presented of a study of systems implementation languages for the Payload Operations Control Center Network (POCCNET). Criteria are developed for evaluating the languages, and fifteen existing languages are evaluated on the basis of these criteria

Investigation, Development, and Evaluation of Performance Proving for Fault-tolerant Computers

A number of methodologies for verifying systems and computer based tools that assist users in verifying their systems were developed. These tools were applied to verify in part the SIFT ultrareliable aircraft computer. Topics covered included: STP theorem prover; design verification of SIFT; high level language code verification; assembly language level verification; numerical algorithm verification; verification of flight control programs; and verification of hardware logic

A design methodology for portable software on parallel computers

This final report for research that was supported by grant number NAG-1-995 documents our progress in addressing two difficulties in parallel programming. The first difficulty is developing software that will execute quickly on a parallel computer. The second difficulty is transporting software between dissimilar parallel computers. In general, we expect that more hardware-specific information will be included in software designs for parallel computers than in designs for sequential computers. This inclusion is an instance of portability being sacrificed for high performance. New parallel computers are being introduced frequently. Trying to keep one's software on the current high performance hardware, a software developer almost continually faces yet another expensive software transportation. The problem of the proposed research is to create a design methodology that helps designers to more precisely control both portability and hardware-specific programming details. The proposed research emphasizes programming for scientific applications. We completed our study of the parallelizability of a subsystem of the NASA Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) data processing system. This work is summarized in section two. A more detailed description is provided in Appendix A ('Programming Practices to Support Eventual Parallelism'). Mr. Chrisman, a graduate student, wrote and successfully defended a Ph.D. dissertation proposal which describes our research associated with the issues of software portability and high performance. The list of research tasks are specified in the proposal. The proposal 'A Design Methodology for Portable Software on Parallel Computers' is summarized in section three and is provided in its entirety in Appendix B. We are currently studying a proposed subsystem of the NASA Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data processing system. This software is the proof-of-concept for the Ph.D. dissertation. We have implemented and measured the performance of a portion of this subsystem on the Intel iPSC/2 parallel computer. These results are provided in section four. Our future work is summarized in section five, our acknowledgements are stated in section six, and references for published papers associated with NAG-1-995 are provided in section seven

Programmiersprachen und Rechenkonzepte

Die GI-Fachgruppe 2.1.4 "Programmiersprachen und Rechenkonzepte" veranstaltete vom 3. bis 5. Mai 2004 im Physikzentrum Bad Honnef ihren jährlichen Workshop. Dieser Bericht enthält eine Zusammenstellung der Beiträge. Das Treffen diente wie in jedem Jahr gegenseitigem Kennenlernen, der Vertiefung gegenseitiger Kontakte, der Vorstellung neuer Arbeiten und Ergebnisse und vor allem der intensiven Diskussion. Ein breites Spektrum von Beiträgen, von theoretischen Grundlagen über Programmentwicklung, Sprachdesign, Softwaretechnik und Objektorientierung bis hin zur überraschend langen Geschichte der Rechenautomaten seit der Antike bildete ein interessantes und abwechlungsreiches Programm. Unter anderem waren imperative, funktionale und funktional-logische Sprachen, Software/Hardware-Codesign, Semantik, Web-Programmierung und Softwaretechnik, generative Programmierung, Aspekte und formale Testunterstützung Thema. Interessante Beiträge zu diesen und weiteren Themen gaben Anlaß zu Erfahrungsaustausch und Fachgesprächen auch mit den Teilnehmern des zeitgleich im Physikzentrum Bad Honnef stattfindenden Workshops "Reengineering". Allen Teilnehmern möchte ich dafür danken, daß sie mit ihren Vorträgen und konstruktiven Diskussionsbeiträgen zum Gelingen des Workshops beigetragen haben. Dank für die Vielfalt und Qualität der Beiträge gebührt den Autoren. Ein Wort des Dankes gebührt ebenso den Mitarbeitern und der Leitung des Physikzentrums Bad Honnef für die gewohnte angenehme und anregende Atmosphäre und umfassende Betreuung

A methodology for producing reliable software, volume 1

An investigation into the areas having an impact on producing reliable software including automated verification tools, software modeling, testing techniques, structured programming, and management techniques is presented. This final report contains the results of this investigation, analysis of each technique, and the definition of a methodology for producing reliable software