Consortium
The eki project is implemented by a consortium of four partner universities and two associated partner companies.
Paderborn University, Germany
The Computer Engineering Group of Paderborn University is conducting research in the areas of FPGA-based computing, approximate computing and self-aware computing since more than 15 years. Further, the group has experience with energy measurement and estimation in heterogeneous computing systems and with the application of machine learning techniques, in particular deep neural networks. The eki project coordinator Prof. Dr. Marco Platzner has many years of experience in experience project management, for example as deputy speaker of the Collaborative Research Center 901 and as primary investigator in several priority programs of the German Research Foundation and in BMBF and BMI funded projects, and as coordinator of the EU FET project EPiCS.
Within the eki project, the role of the Computer Engineering group is project coordination and management and the development of mapping techniques for compressed deep neural networks to single and multi-FPGA installations. This comprises the extension of the FINN compiler framework for deep neural network dataflow architectures, the creation of accurate energy models and based on that, research into AutoML techniques for design space exploration with respect to throughput and latency, accuracy, and energy.
Contact
Prof. Marco Platzner (project coordinator)
Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing
The Paderborn Center for Parallel Computing (PC2) is a scientific institute of Paderborn University. The mission is to advance interdisciplinary research in parallel and distributed computing with innovative computer systems for high-performance computing (HPC). PC2 is a world-leading HPC center in the field of FPGA acceleration of HPC applications. PC2 is a member of the national HPC association NHR, the Gauß Alliance, and the regional HPC.NRW competence network. Prof. Dr. Christian Plessl is the managing director of PC2 and professor for high-performance computing. His research expertise includes computer architecture, design methods, runtime systems, and computing systems that use FPGAs.
PC2 provides with the supercomputer Noctua2 a production-level HPC infrastructure including over 80 high-end FPGAs. All FPGAs are connected to an optical switch that gives the ability to perform multi-FPGA evaluations of the approaches developed in the EKI project. PC2 has extensive expertise and experience in FPGA application development, benchmarking systems, component-level energy measurements and the integration of innovative computer systems into cluster workload management software.
Contact
Prof. Christian Plessl
South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences
The South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (FH SWF) is one of the largest engineering-focused universitiy of applied sciences in Germany. The university specializes in distance learning and working-student programs. In 2018, Dr. Heiner Giefers joined FH SWF as a professor of Cloud Computing. He established and coordinates a part-time program in Applied Artificial Intelligence and pursues research interests in the field of energy-efficient AI. Previously, Dr. Giefers worked as a research staff member at IBM Research Zurich, where he focused on energy-efficient computing and led IBM's efforts in EU projects such as OPRECOMP and NanoStreams.
As part of the eki project, FH SWF will investigate how Large Language Models can be implemented on single- and multi-FPGA platforms using techniques such as pruning, quantization, sparsification, or knowledge transfer. The research aims to determine to what extent the use of reconfigurable hardware can improve energy efficiency compared to GPU and CPU processors for the implementation of large Transformer models.
Contact
Prof. Heiner Giefers
Hamm Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences
Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences (HSHL) offers innovative and interdisciplinary degree programs in the fields of engineering, natural sciences, computer science and business. In 14 bachelor's and ten master's degree programs, 5140 students at HSHL are currently gaining practical qualifications for their future careers. At the two campuses in Hamm and Lippstadt, the university has state-of-the-art buildings and around 15,000 square meters of laboratory space for future-oriented teaching and research. Prof. Dr. Stefan Henkler is professor for computer engineering and the head of the electronic engineering course of studies. Prof. Dr. Achim Rettberg is professor for Human-Machine-Interface Technologies. He currently holds a research professorship.
HSHL is investigating the case study "5G Smart Farming" as part of the eki project. The aim is to make the agricultural process of sugar beet cultivation in NRW more ecological, economical, and sustainable. Field crossings with unmanned vehicles are used to monitor plants and collect data. This case study combines aspects of edge and cloud computing and has latency barriers for DNN inference. The main focus of HSHL will therefore be the development and adaptation of DNNs for image analysis and implementation on FPGAs by approximation.
MEGWARE
In its 30-year history, MEGWARE Computer Vertrieb und Service GmbH has established itself as one of Europe's leading supercomputing specialists. Since its foundation in 1990, the Chemnitz based company has been able to draw on extensive experience in the development and installation of High Performance Computing (HPC) systems and Linux clusters. MEGWARE has delivered and installed more than 1,700 high-performance computers to research institutes, universities, and industrial and business customers throughout Europe. The service portfolio ranges from competent planning prior to purchase, through production and testing of the complete system to turnkey installation and the desired service and support. Nico Tippmann joined MEGWARE’s software engineering team in 2018. In his role, he improves the user experience of ClustWare®, our software solution for integrated system monitoring and management. In addition, he drives our research activities on continuous benchmarking for HPC applications. Axel Auweter joined MEGWARE in 2016. As the company’s CTO, he oversees all software and hardware related R&D activities.
As an associated project partner, MEGWARE contributes expertise and technology for the fine-grained measurement of power consumption, supports the consortium in the selection and configuration of suitable server platforms, and collaborates on the development of software interfaces for power measurement and their integration into the cluster and workload management systems. The focus of the joint work is on the development of a continuous integration and benchmarking framework for the automatic compilation, execution and evaluation of DNNs on FPGAs, GPUs and CPUs.
Contact
Axel Auweter
Nico Tippmann
AMD
For more than 50 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies. Billions of people, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research institutions around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. AMD employees are focused on building leadership high-performance and adaptive products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.
Contact
Thomas Preusser
