NRC/CISTIApril 30, 2003

Western Canada Research Computing Grid

PART III

Presentation to

The Vision

Grid Storage

Scientific Visualization

Advanced Collaboration

Computational Resources

LEGEND

Computational Facilities

High Performance Computing Large shared memory system

(256cpu SMMP) Cluster of multi-processors

(144cpu CluMP) Commodity Cluster (1500cpu)

Distributed storage (25TB+75TB)

Local and centralized Test storage wide area networks

Collaborative Environments GridRooms; GridStations, AccessGrid,

Grid_Collaboration and visualization

flexible acquisition strategies

The challenge Many Research Teams with Diverse Needs

Computer science, Chemistry, Earth and Ocean science, Engineering, Life sciences, Mathematics, Physics, Visualization & Remote Collaboration

SMMP, CluMP, Cluster (capacity vs capability computing)

Rapidly Changing Environment Growing & changing demand (new media, biocomputing) Changing HPC Solutions (distributed storage,

heterogeneous grid)

Increasing need for enhanced collaboration tools

Individual institutions cannot meet these needs

Computational Design of Catalysts (Ziegler)

Olefin Polymeriztion

• Design of transition metal catalysts that can transform hydrocarbons, olefins, O2

and N2 into valuable chemicals and new materials.

• WestGrid facilities will allow a major step forward with the inclusion of all factors into the simulation (solvent, dynamics and steric bulk)

• Example: Polymerization of olefin to produce plastics with different structures and properties.

Subatomic Physics (Vetterli, Rodning, …)• The goal of Subatomic Physics

is to identify the building blocks of Matter and to determine their interactions.

• Explosion of data from new experiments at TRIUMF & abroad x10 increase in computing & storage.

• Search for new physics “Beyond the Standard Model”

• State-of-the-art measurement of the decay parameters of the muon

• 70 Terabytes/year of data; 20 Terabytes/year of simulations 125 cpu’s for analysis & simulation

Example: TWIST

Black Hole Collisions (Choptuik)Research: Accurate simulation of the gravitational wave signals produced by colliding black holes.

Such signals are apt to be detected in the near future by gravitational wave detectors such as LIGO.

Example: The animation shows the head-on collision of two equal-mass black holes which are formed from the gravitational collapse of blobs of matter early on in the simulation.

Realistic case requires an increase in cpu power by orders of magnitude

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Optimal Multiple Sequence Alignment (Schaeffer) Research

Analysis of proteins in a cell can identify similarities and differences among species

Heuristic methods approximate a good alignment for multiple DNA sequences, such as 10 sequences with 1000 base pairs which requires 10^30 computations

Biologists are interested in longer sequences

HPC Requirements The program is memory intensive and

most effective on a parallel, shared memory computer

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Now testing the program for a variety of researchers, including Toronto’s Sick

Children’s Hospital

Internet Modeling & Design (Unger) Research

parallel & distributed simulation on SMP, MIMD, … simulation & emulation of advanced internets

HPC requirements spectrum of multiprocessor platform architectures exclusive access to small through very large HPC platforms is

required an average of 4 hours per week Evidence of research significance

Total research funding over the past 5 years: $1.4M with $520,000 in cash from industry

ASTECH Award for "Innovation in Science & Technology” Spinout company: "Jade Simulations International"

Internet Modeling & Design (Unger) Research

parallel & distributed simulation on shared and distributed memory

simulation & emulation of advanced internets HPC requirements

spectrum of multiprocessor platform architectures exclusive access to small through very large HPC

platforms is required an average of 4 hours/week

UofA Immersive Virtual Meeting (Boulanger)

Collaborative ObjectAnd Data Manipulations and Interactions

Virtual Actuators

Live Stereo Texture and sound

CAD Model orScientific Data

Goal: create a general human-machine interface allowing engineers and scientists to communicate their design and visualize remote data, producing the equivalent of a virtual meeting place.

The WestGrid Solution ( May 8 Launch) Working together: 8 institutions, 2 provinces,

250+ faculty researchers Institutional commitments: cash, infrastructure and

high level support staff Contributions by industry (28m CFI/Prov; 20m Ind.) Complementary and cost-effective resources Researchers supported by collaboration,

visualization and highly qualified personnel Build on a strong track record of sharing, resource

utilization and project management

Grid Infrastructure Uniform access to HPC resources

single sign-on, common submission interface system wide accounting distributed computing

Uniform access to data support file-catalogues and GridFTP

Common grid infrastructure consistent environment supporting grid-

applications and application portals e.g., Abacus, Gaussian, Matlab, Maple, ADF, …

Summary Leadership

Collaboration

Outstanding research and researchers

Attract, retain and train HQP

Unique regional facility with Grid Infrastructure

Cost-effective shared facilities

Comprehensive, diversified, and adaptable

The Vision

Grid Storage

Scientific Visualization

Advanced Collaboration

Computational Resources

LEGEND

Management

Governing Council

Executive Committee

Management Committee

Management Committee

Management Committee

Resource Allocation

. . .

MACI Achievements Richard Levy (UofC) - Virtual Reconstruction of Historical Monuments:

a case study highlighting the potential uses of computer visualization as a tool in heritage resource management. (SiggGraph 2001 Animation Festival)

Robert Rankin (UofA) is a specialist in space physics, and one of the heads of the university’s Space Weather Program. He is the driving force behind magnetic storm research in Canada and works extensively with the Canadian Space Agency.

Keramat Ali (UofL) new approaches in dynamics, classical and quantum, to broaden the efficiency & scope of artificial recurrent neural networks. These networks are unavoidable & necessary in real biological systems.

Robert Hayes (UofA) in collaboration with industry, new design methodologies for automotive catalytic converters.  Spearheading what has become the most advanced research group in the world in this area.

Arturo Sanchez (UofA) tropical dry forest management and environmental preservation in response to the impacts of free trade and globalization in Latin America. MACI computers provide the capacity needed to host this biodiversity database and myriad of GIS mapping images

Virtual Reconstruction of Historical Monuments (Levy) Dr Richard Levy is leading the development of 3D computer visualizations in urban planning.  Simulating the reconstruction of urban sites through high performance computer visualizations, Dr Levy has been able to successfully reconstruct the twelfth century temple site of Phimai, Thailand.

A case study highlighting the potential uses of computer visualization as a tool in heritage resource management.

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Leadership in HQP

Attracting and retaining high-quality faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and support staff

Training HQP for the knowledge-based economy

Supplying HQP to Canadian industry

A world first --- top 50 private GigE network

In production use by July, 2003