Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, is one of the world’s leading research universities and home to the Bilkent University Computational Electromagnetics Research Center (BiLCEM); a globally respected institute specialising in the solution of the largest and most difficult problems in computational electromagnetics.
Challenge
- Develop a parallel computing system with sufficient computing power, flexibility and dynamism to solve complex matrix equations that typically comprise millions of unknowns
- Launch a major campaign to parallelize existing and new solution algorithms that are extremely complicated even in sequential form.
- Find answers to pressing problems, such as discovering the true effect of cell phones on the human brain and how to develop ground-penetrating radar that can detect buried landmines.
- Advance research on invisibility cloaking through the sophisticated simulation of metamaterials — artificial composites that can be engineered to change the direction of electromagnetic waves and light.
Solution
- Test the Quad-Core Intel®Xeon®processor 5300 series by using Intel’s 16-server cluster, based at its UK Swindon headquarters, to solve complex matrix equations consisting of millions of unknowns. Each server has two Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors 5300 series. The entire system provides 128 cores.
- Purchase eight HP ProLiant DL140* servers, each powered by two Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors 5300 series, providing a total of 64 cores, with plans to buy a further eight servers at a later date.
- Devise novel parallelization strategies for achieving unprecedented scalability and efficiency in distributing the workload of complicated electromagnetics solvers over parallel computing platforms containing large numbers of processors and cores.
- Develop powerful and flexible solvers that can be used in a variety of important real-life applications.
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