Parallel, distributed and GPU computing technologies in single-particle electron microscopy

An introduction to the current paradigm shift towards concurrency in software

Heterogeneous Computing for Data Stream Mining

Graphical Processing Units are de-facto standard for acceleration of data parallel tasks in high performance computing. They are widely used to accelerate batch machine learning algorithms. High-end discrete GPUs are characterized by a very high number of cores (thousands), high bandwidth memory optimized for the stream access and high power requirements. Integrated GPUs are characterized by a medium number of cores (hundreds), medium bandwidth memory shared with CPU optimized for the random access and low power requirements. Data stream processing applications are often required to provide response within the limited time frame, operate on data in relatively small increments and have strict power requirements if deployed on the embedded devices. This work evaluates performance of integrated and discrete GPUs belonging to the same chip family on several variants of k-nearest neighbours algorithm over sliding window and stochastic gradient descent using OpenCL and novel Heterogeneous System Architecture platforms. We conclude that integrated GPUs provide a niche solution catering for to small work sizes that offers better power efficiency and simplicity of deployment

Architecting Memory Systems for Emerging Technologies

The advance of traditional dynamic random access memory (DRAM) technology has slowed down, while the capacity and performance needs of memory system have continued to increase. This is a result of increasing data volume from emerging applications, such as machine learning and big data analytics. In addition to such demands, increasing energy consumption is becoming a major constraint on the capabilities of computer systems. As a result, emerging non-volatile memories, for example, Spin Torque Transfer Magnetic RAM (STT-MRAM), and new memory interfaces, for example, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), have been developed as an alternative. Thus far, most previous studies have retained a DRAM-like memory architecture and management policy. This preserves compatibility but hides the true benefits of those new memory technologies. In this research, we proposed the co-design of memory architectures and their management policies for emerging technologies. First, we introduced a new memory architecture for an STT-MRAM main memory. In particular, we defined a new page mode operation for efficient activation and sensing. By fully exploiting the non-destructive nature of STT- MRAM, our design achieved higher performance, lower energy consumption, and a smaller area than the traditional designs. Second, we developed a cost-effective technique to improve load balancing for HBM memory channels. We showed that the proposed technique was capable of efficiently redistributing memory requests across multiple memory channels to improve the channel utilization, resulting in improved performance.PHDElectrical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145988/1/bcoh_1.pd

Deep Learning para BigData

We live in a world where data is becoming increasingly valuable and increasingly abundant in volume. Every company produces data, be it from sales, sensors, and various other sources. Since the dawn of the smartphone, virtually every person in the world is connected to the internet and contributes to data generation. Social networks are big contributors to this Big Data boom. How do we extract insight from such a rich data environment? Is Deep Learning capable of circumventing Big Data’s challenges? This is what we intend to understand. To reach a conclusion, Social Network data is used as a case study for predicting sentiment changes in the Stock Market. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a computational study and analyse its performance. The outputs will contribute to understand Deep Learning’s usage with Big Data and how it acts in Sentiment analysis.Vivemos num mundo onde dados são cada vez mais valiosos e abundantes. Todas as empresas produzem dados, sejam eles provenientes de valores de vendas, parâmetros de sensores bem como de outras diversas fontes. Desde que os smartphones se tornaram pessoais, o mundo tornou-se mais conectado, já que virtualmente todas as pessoas passaram a ter a internet na ponta dos dedos. Esta explosão tecnológica foi acompanhada por uma explosão de dados. As redes sociais têm um grande contributo para a quantidade de dados produzida. Mas como se analisam estes dados? Será que Deep Learning poderá dar a volta aos desafios que Big Data traz inerentemente? É isso se pretende perceber. Para chegar a uma conclusão, foi utilizado um caso de estudo de redes sociais para previsão de alterações nas ações de mercados financeiros relacionadas com as opiniões dos utilizadores destas. O objetivo desta dissertação é o desenvolvimento de um estudo computacional e a análise da sua performance. Os resultados contribuirão para entender o uso de Deep Learning com Big Data, com especial foco em análise de sentimento. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a computational study and analyse its performance. The outputs will contribute to understand Deep Learning’s usage with Big Data and how it acts in Sentiment analysis

Applications of Emerging Memory in Modern Computer Systems: Storage and Acceleration

In recent year, heterogeneous architecture emerges as a promising technology to conquer the constraints in homogeneous multi-core architecture, such as supply voltage scaling, off-chip communication bandwidth, and application parallelism. Various forms of accelerators, e.g., GPU and ASIC, have been extensively studied for their tradeoffs between computation efficiency and adaptivity. But with the increasing demand of the capacity and the technology scaling, accelerators also face limitations on cost-efficiency due to the use of traditional memory technologies and architecture design. Emerging memory has become a promising memory technology to inspire some new designs by replacing traditional memory technologies in modern computer system. In this dissertation, I will first summarize my research on the application of Spin-transfer torque random access memory (STT-RAM) in GPU memory hierarchy, which offers simple cell structure and non-volatility to enable much smaller cell area than SRAM and almost zero standby power. Then I will introduce my research about memristor implementation as the computation component in the neuromorphic computing accelerator, which has the similarity between the programmable resistance state of memristors and the variable synaptic strengths of biological synapses to simplify the realization of neural network model. At last, a dedicated interconnection network design for multicore neuromorphic computing system will be presented to reduce the prominent average latency and power consumption brought by NoC in a large size neuromorphic computing system