HPC YEARBOOK 2021/22
Simon McIntosh-Smith discusses the role of the ExCALIBUR project in ensuring that UK research is at the forefront of HPC
Exascale ambitions
(ExCALIBUR) project is a UK research programme that aims to deliver the next generation of high-performance simulation software for the highest priority fields in UK research. ExCALIBUR began in October 2019 and will run through until March 2025, redesigning high-priority computer codes and algorithms to meet the demands of both advancing technology and UK research. To continue to make scientific
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advances on some of the most challenging physical problems facing the world today, such as weather forecasting, engine design, astrophysics, particle physics and fusion energy, it is essential that the UK fully harnesses the power of the world’s most powerful supercomputers as they move into the exascale era. However, this cannot be achieved without appropriate software; existing simulation codes are not expected to be able to fully exploit the next generation of supercomputers. The ExCALIBUR programme aims to
address this challenge by redesigning high-priority computer codes and algorithms, keeping UK research and development at the forefront of high- performance simulation science. The challenge spans many disciplines, and research software engineers and scientists will work together to future- proof the UK against the fast-moving changes in supercomputer designs. This combined scientific expertise will push the boundaries of science across a wide range of fields delivering transformational change at the cutting- edge of scientific supercomputing.
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he Exascale Computing ALgorithms and Infrastructures Benefiting UK Research
What is the project about and what do you hope to achieve? ExCALIBUR has been developed by the Met Office and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as the primary exascale software and algorithms project for the UK, initially for five years, but hopefully it will carry on for longer than that. ExCALIBUR is led by the Met Office and includes UKRI councils and UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). The programme is primarily focused on software and algorithms. ExCALIBUR is analogous to the exascale initiatives around the world, such as the exascale computing project (ECP) in the US, Euro HPC in Europe, and similar schemes in Japan. The ExCALIBUR programme will include collaborations with these other international exascale projects. But ExCALIBUR is primarily focused on getting the UK’s scientific codes ready for exascale. It’s a stand- alone programme for the UK, with a significant investment of around £46 million pounds, a substantial effort focused on software and algorithms. The UK needed to make sure that
its own codes were being invested in and developed in line with several key objectives. We want to make sure the UK’s science codes are going to be efficient so that they will run well on exascale machines. We want to make sure that the
UK’s science codes are also capable. In other words, they’ve got the ability to really push the envelope and take advantage of exascale machines to do things that just weren’t possible before – and to build expertise in the UK as well. We need to ensure we’ve got the right people with the right
skills in the UK, who can design and develop codes, build and run cutting- edge facilities and supercomputers and so on – this is why ExCALIBUR is very much a UK project. There are other programmes in the UK that will be procuring and building exascale supercomputers. In the UK we have got ARCHER2 being brought up now, and there’s DiRAC 3 and all sorts of big things going on in the UK. ExCALIBUR’s role is to deliver the software which can effectively exploit this coming generation of exciting hardware. Getting ready for exascale is a long-
term programme. This is something we’ll be working on for the next five to ten years. There are going to be new technologies coming out in that time, some of which might be quite revolutionary and have a huge impact on what we can achieve. Therefore, we need to do a little bit
of horizon scanning. When there are interesting new technologies coming out, you don’t tend to go from nothing to all of a sudden buying a huge system based on a brand new technology that you’ve not tried out before. Therefore within ExCALIBUR about 10 per cent of the overall budget, that’s about four and a half million pounds, has been reserved to try out new technologies that might become significant for us in the long term. This subproject within ExCALIBUR,
called Hardware and Enabling Software, has been running for two years now, and we’ve been trying all sorts of interesting technologies. These include FPGA-based systems, and new kinds of storage and network technology. The Bluefield programmable network technologies are being evaluated, for example. There are quite a few
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