Innovation Europe

HARNESSING ACCELERATION FOR HIGHER PERFORMANCE DATA ANALYTICS AND SIMULATIONS WITH ACROSS

Artificial intelligence and big data are poised to revolutionize the high-performance computing (HPC) domain, thanks to the new tools they offer for analysing the immense amount of data generated by scientific experiments and modern simulation tools. The EuroHPC project ACROSS aims to develop an innovative execution platform to serve emerging workflows that combine large and complex numerical simulations with high-performance data analytics (HPDA), machine learning and deep learning techniques. This platform will be co-designed using a large set of advanced hardware and software tecnologies, with a view to delivering near-exascale performance.

As such, hardware acceleration technologies will be of primary interest for ACROSS in order to deliver maximum performance with minimal energy consumption. Specifically, in addition to established graphics processing units (GPUs), ACROSS will also integrate and exploit field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), neural network processors (NNPs) and neuromorphic hardware. Looking forward, ACROSS also envisions the adoption of future outcomes of the European Processor Initiative (EPI), thereby simultaneously promoting first-class European technology.

Energy efficiency, efficient usage of computing resources and application performance will be achieved through the design and implementation of an innovative workflow and resource management system. A multi-level approach will be used to define the workflows, manage the resource allocation beyond traditional queuing systems using a machine learning based approach, and efficiently execute workload tasks on the allocated heterogeneous resources. Pilots have been selected to demonstrate the capabilities of the ACROSS platform in three relevant industrial and scientific domains: (1) aeronautics; (2) weather, climate, hydrological and farming; and (3) energy and carbon sequestration.

The ACROSS platform will be backed by supercomputing and cloud resources provided by European HPC centers (CINECA and IT4Innovations), including a new generation of supercomputers.

The ACROSS project will be tested via pilots in aeronautics, climate and energy PROJECT NAME: ACROSS: HPC Big Data ArtifiCial intelligence cross Stack PlatfoRm TOwardS ExaScale START/END DATE: 01/03/2021 – 29/02/2024 EU Call: H2020-JTI-EuroHPC-2019-1 KEY THEMES: high-performance computing (HPC), exascale, artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance data analytics (HDPA), accelerators (GPUs, FPGAs, neuromorphic), HPC job scheduling and workflows management PROJECT COORDINATOR: Olivier Terzo, Fondazione LINKS (Italy) olivier.terzo@linksfoundation.com DISSEMINATION MANAGER: Alberto Sconti, Fondazione LINKS (Italy) alberto.scionti@linksfoundation.com PARTNERS: Italy: Fondazione LINKS (coordinator), CINECA, GE Avio Aero, Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per l’Informatica (CINI), Morfo Design SRL; France: Atos (Bull SAS), Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA); Czech Republic: IT4Innovations, VSB – Technical University of Ostrava; UK: European Centre For Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF); Norway: SINTEF AS; Greece: Neuropublic AE Pliroforikis & Epikoinonion; Netherlands: Stichting DELTARES; Germany: MaxPlanck-Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Wissenschaften EV BUDGET: € 8.8 million (€ 4 million EU contribution) acrossproject.eu @across_project

Across Project

ACROSSProjectEU

The ACROSS project has received funding from the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement no. 955648. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and Italy, France, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway.