London: British computer scientists have been working on three new projects aimed at unlocking the potential of cutting-edge computer processors which could contribute to applications including more accurate weather predictions.
Scientists at the University of Glasgow have received over 3 million in funding from the Engineering and Physical Research Council`s (EPSRC) System Approaches to Distributed and Embedded Architectures (SADEA) project.
Across the UK, a total of five SADEA projects will develop new software to help unlock the full potential of manycore computers.
Until recently, advances in computing power relied on increases in processor clock speeds, which allowed more computations per second. However, the physical limitations of silicon manufacturing led to a gradual plateauing of clock speeds.
To get around the problem, processor manufacturers began to place multiple processing cores on the same silicon wafer.
These multicore systems are now commonplace in devices including laptop computers, tablet PCs and mobile phones.
Manycore systems, which incorporate hundreds of processors or more, are now becoming increasingly common for large-scale computing projects.
However, the development of software properly tailored to the challenges of multi and manycore systems has lagged behind hardware development, meaning that many of the potential advantages of new hardware architecture have not yet been fully exploited, the Glasgow University said in a statement.
