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M. Somasekhar

Hyderabad , June 21

HAVING given the country expertise in high throughput, parallel computing, ANURAG, the Defence Research and Development (R&D) Organisation here is all set to take India into the next orbit of `cluster' computing with 2-3 TeraFLOPS speed number crunching machines.

The Hyderabad-based, Advanced Numerical Research & Analysis Group (ANURAG), has launched a special `Project CHITRA', to develop fast computing machines using the open source Linux operating systems. "The target is to come up with an operational machine in the next 18 months," said its Director, Dr K.D. Nayak. It would virtually be a move over from PACE (processor for aerodynamic computations and evaluation), which ANURAG built over a decade ago using off the self computing components to counter denial of supercomputer by the advanced nations, especially the US, to cluster computing, the next horizon. The necessary infrastructure in the form of a separate facility would be created in Hyderabad, he told Business Line.

The essential features of the cluster computing machine would be it 256-dual node, modern microprocessors, one TeraByte of main memory, a multi-gigabit interconnect network and peak performance speed rating of 2-3 TeraFLOPS, Dr Nayak explained.

It would also be linked to the DRONA network set up by ANURAG to connect all the Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratories in the country.

Given the mandate of providing self-reliance in the area of computing, VLSI designs and technology, ANURAG will be venturing into are in the development of systems on a chip (SOC), digital ports for control systems in MEMS and radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), all of which would further strengthen the country's defence systems, he said.

Dr Nayak said PACE (the parallel processor), series of supercomputers have been developed at ANURAG since 1998. These parallel computers have been extensively used intheDRDO laboratories. In addition, 11 systems have been installed at various research institutions in the country, including the latest at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, dedicated by the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, this year.

PACE ++, the latest version developed by ANURAG is a 128 node parallel processing system. With a front-end processor, it has a distributed memory and message passing system. It runs on Linux OS (operating system) and the programming environment called ANUPAM (ANURAGs parallel applications manager).

ANURAG has a tie-up with the Bangalore-based Real Time Technology Services (RTS) to market the commercial applications of PACE and other products it has developed like ANAMICA, its medical visualisation software package.

Dr Nayak said in just over a decade, defence scientists have been successful in indigenously fabricating most of the components for the parallel processor machines such as workstations, PC boards, processor etc. ANURAG also hopes to have its own latest chip processor ready for integration by mid-2004.

Another significant contribution made by scientists here is in the area of VLSI (very large scale integrated circuits). Critical components and computational units required defence applications such as RADARs, Sonar's and the light combat aircraft (LCA) are being designed and developed by the VLSI Group.

It is equipped with sophisticated design tools and has designed several chips from a normal ASIC to a complex 32-bit microprocessor.

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