The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a recent computer hardware development providing high performance graphics rendering. These highly parallel processors are now being applied to computationally intensive problems. The GPU architecture is well suited to parallel computing with minimal inter-process communication. Tasks are divided into multiple threads that run independently on single processing elements in the same way that regions of an image are rendered.

Now that GPUs have evolved into fully programmable devices they have become an ideal resource for acceleration of many arithmetic and memory bandwidth intensive scientific applications. GPUs are typically composed of groups of single-instruction multiple-thread processing units. Parallel machines in the past failed to achieve their full performance potential due to memory access conflicts and divergence of execution paths for conditional execution operations. GPU design ameliorates these problems by using hardware multithreading, clusters of small processing units and virtualized processors.

The CUDA development environment makes programming GPUs accessible to a wide group of users. Thread allocation and memory management is simplified, code can be read from arbitrary addresses in memory and fast shared memory used as a user-managed cache, enabling higher bandwidth. The CUDA programming model is based on the decomposition of work into grids and thread blocks. Grids decompose a large problem into thread blocks which are concurrently executed by the pool of available multiprocessors. Each thread block contains from 64 to 512 threads, which are concurrently executed by the processors within a single multiprocessor. Each thread block is computed by running a group of threads, known as a warp, in lockstep on the multiprocessor.

At the meeting we will look at coding practical algorithms for high performance implementation and identify problems that will be developed further at the UNE Summer CUDA Code Camp.

Where: E11 A3 - Arts Lecture Theatre 3 
Map:  http://www.une.edu.au/maps/une/#E11
When: 1 to 2pm Friday, 28th August 2009
 

This group was formed over 3 years ago to increase the impact and visibility of Mathematics, Statistics and Computing within the university. We meet on the last Friday of every month.

Today’s meeting focuses on “UNE as an eUniversity”. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Graham Webb, will introduce the concept of eUniversity and Professor Belinda Tynan, will speak on eLearning technologies.

David Wright will present commercial eResearch projects that are being considered in partnership with UNE.

Please come along and hear what it is all about, ask a few questions and share some ideas.

Regards, Charles

Everyone is welcome.

Regards, Charles

The next Information Research Group Meeting will be in Arts Lecture Theatre 3 (E11_A3) from 1 to 2pm on the Friday, 31st July 2009.

The focus will be on developing our Spatio-Temporal information strategy and exploring opportunities for innovative research.

Everyone is welcome.

Regards, Charles

The next Information Research Group Meeting will be in Arts Lecture

Theatre 3 (E11_A3) from 1 to 2pm on the Friday, 31st July 2009.

Please let me know of issues or topics you would like to discuss.

Regards, Charles

See: http://www.innovation.gov.au/innovationreview/Documents/PoweringIdeas_fullreport.pdf

The focus is on Wireless Broadband at UNE. Everyone is welcome.

Further information can be found at:
http://blog.une.edu.au/informationresearchgroup/ and
http://mcs.une.edu.au/~cwatson7/I/WiMAX.ppt

The next Information Research Group Meeting is in E11_A3 - Arts Lecture Theatre 3 from 1 to 2pm on Friday, 27th February 2009. The focus is on Wireless Broadband at UNE. Everyone is welcome.

This semester we are extending the trial WiFi network to 300 access points across all UNE campuses. The improvement of the local network from 10Mbit to 1Gigabit per second will support many new web based applications. But how do we connect isolated rural and regional areas? Satellite communications are expensive and ADSL is 40% more expensive here than in neighbouring countries like Korea. What new technologies are emerging to fill the gap?

WiMAX (http://ieee802.org/16/ ) is a broadband wireless protocol covering hundreds of square kilometres. The Centrino 2 chipset integrates EtherNet, WiMAX and WiFi and is now deployed in mobile computers and communications devices. There is information on deployment and case studies at http://www.wimaxforum.org/ . A good summary of WiMAX capabilities can be found at http://www.wimaxforum.org/resources/frequently-asked-questions .

Advantages of WiMax include:

• International 4G Standard established in most countries
• Perfectly suited for regional and rural areas
• Purchase and installation WiMAX technology is faster, simpler and cheaper than other solutions
• Non-line-of-sight (NLoS) capability provides coverage despite the challenges of geography and the limited footprint of wireline.
• Australia’s late adoption provides UNE with an opportunity to show leadership in the bush by piggybacking on overseas development
• Intel Centrino 2 chip set is now available
• Provides cost effective “last mile” connectivity to fibre node backbone
• Unlicenced spectrum is owned by local council avoiding Telstra/Optus carrier costs
• In Africa, WiMAX provides Internet and VOIP services faster and more affordably than wireline
• Wide coverage - 50Km
• Range can be enhanced in a rural setting by increasing EIRP (effective isotropic radiated power) to 25W
• Ideal for remote isolated regions with no existing coverage
• WiMAX suppies data bandwidth only, increasing the bandwidth without compromising voice service quality 

 Regards, Charles

The focus is on Learning Management Systems and Virtual Learning Environments. Topics include :

• Flexible, efficient and effective assessment
• Integration of assignment submission and grading
• E-lectures
• EVO/Skype/NetMeeting
• Virtual worlds
• Mobile content delivery
• Deep tagging of rich media
• Content caching
• External service providers (gmail@une)
• Cloud computing
• Server/network capacity
• Quality of service
• Future LMS: Sakai, Moodle or Blackboard 9
• Content management: Hive or Equella

Everyone is welcome.