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SCORPIO Project

SCORPIO FET Open project explores new computing paradigm based on uncertainty to break the power wall

Multicore scaling is power limited in such a degree that by 2020, when Exascale systems are due to arrive, more than 50% of the transistors of a processor will have to be powered off in every cycle. At the same time, transistor variability threatens the correct operation of future computing systems. The SCORPIO FP7 FET-Open project envisions a new computing paradigm that converts the problem of uncertainty into an opportunity for building energy-efficient computing systems that scale gracefully under hardware errors. Dimitris Nikolopoulos , Director of Research in the HPDC Cluster at Queen's joins a team of investigators from the University of Thessaly, EPFL, IMEC, and RWTH Aachen to build a significance-aware system prototype, where assumptions on program correctness are relaxed to achieve higher energy-efficiency with tolerable output quality. FET-Open projects conduct blue sky exploratory research of a risky and highly unconventional nature. Success rates of FET-Open proposals are under 5%.