Accession Number:

AD1018148

Title:

AFOSR BRI: Co-Design of Hardware/Software for Predicting MAV Aerodynamics

Descriptive Note:

Technical Report,01 Sep 2012,31 Oct 2015

Corporate Author:

VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND STATE UNIVERSITY BLACKSBURG United States

Personal Author(s):

• Feng,Wu-Chun

Report Date:

2016-09-27

Pagination or Media Count:

12.0

Abstract:

While Moores Law theoretically doubles processor performance every 24 months, much of the realizable performance remains untapped because the burden falls to the less informed domain scientist or engineer to exploit parallel hardware for performance gains. Even when such untapped hardware potential is fully realized, it is often not coupled with advances in algorithmic innovation, which can deliver further multiplicative speed-up beyond Moores Law, as noted in the AFOSR BAA. In this project, we propose a formal co-design process for the structured grid and unstructured grid motifs found in computational fluid dynamics CFD in support of aerodynamic predictions for micro-air vehicles MAVs. While many past efforts to develop such CFD codes on accelerated processors showed limited success, our hardwaresoftware co-design approach created malleable algorithms that could be mapped and optimized onto the right type of processing core at the right time, and in turn, deliver an order-of-magnitude better performance than would have otherwise been possible by Moores Law alone.

Descriptors:

• computational fluid dynamics
• unmanned aerial vehicles
• computer components
• software development
• systems engineering

Subject Categories:

• Computer Programming and Software
• Computer Hardware
• Fluid Mechanics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE