Carnegie Mellon University, Microsoft Join Forces to Advance Edge Computing Research

November 14, 2018

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 14, 2018 — Carnegie Mellon University today announced it will collaborate with Microsoft on a joint effort to innovate in edge computing, an exciting field of research for intensive computing applications that require rapid response times in remote and in low-connectivity environments.

By bringing artificial intelligence to the “edge,” devices such as connected vehicles, drones or factory equipment are able to quickly learn and respond to their environments, which is critical to scenarios like search and rescue, disaster recovery and safety.

To enable discovery in these areas and more, Microsoft will contribute edge computing products to Carnegie Mellon for use in its Living Edge Laboratory, a testbed for exploring applications that generate large data volumes and require intense processing with near-instantaneous response times. Intel, which already is associated with the lab, also is contributing technology to the lab.

Edge computing is a growing field that, in contrast to cloud computing, pushes computing resources closer to where data is generated – particularly mobile users – so that a host of new interactive and augmented reality applications are possible. It’s the focus of intense commercial interest by network providers and tech companies, even as researchers continue to investigate its possibilities. Carnegie Mellon is at the forefront of this major shift in computing paradigms.

Under a two-year agreement, Microsoft will provide edge computing products to the Living Edge Lab, including Azure Data Box Edge, Azure Stack with hardware partner Intel, and Microsoft Azure credits, which provides access to cloud services including AI, IoT, storage and more. The new hardware is powered by Intel Xeon Scalable processors to support the most high-demand applications and actionable insights.

The lab, run by edge computing pioneer Mahadev Satyanarayanan, now operates on the CMU campus as well as shopping districts and parks in Pittsburgh’s Oakland and Shadyside neighborhoods.

“It’s easy to talk about edge computing, but it’s hard to get crucial hands-on experience,” said Satyanarayanan, professor in CMU’s Computer Science Department. “That’s why a number of major telecommunications and tech companies have joined our Open Edge Computing Initiative and helped us establish the lab. We validate ideas and provide unbiased, critical thinking about what works and what doesn’t.”

With the addition of Microsoft products and Intel technology to the lab, faculty and students will be able to use them to develop new applications and compare their performance with other components already in the lab. Microsoft partners also will be able to use the lab.

“The intelligent edge, with the power of the intelligent cloud, can and is already driving real-world impact. By moving AI models and compute closer to the source, we can surface real-time insights in scenarios where milliseconds make a critical difference, and in remote areas where ‘real time’ has not been possible,” said Tad Brockway, general manager, Azure Storage and Azure Stack. “Microsoft offers the most comprehensive spectrum of intelligent edge technologies across hardware, software and devices, bringing the power of the cloud to the edge. We are excited to see what Carnegie Mellon researchers create.”

Speed – both of computation and communication – is a driving force for edge computing. By placing computer nodes, or “cloudlets,” near where people are, edge computing makes it possible to both perform intensive computation and to communicate the results to users at near real-time. This enables solutions that are better designed to for latency-sensitive workloads where every millisecond matters.

“Intel is at the heart of solutions needed to run the most demanding AI applications on the edge,” said Renu Navale, senior director Edge Services and Industry Enabling of the Network Communications Division. “We are excited to extend our existing networking edge collaboration with the Open Edge Computing Initiative, to include Microsoft solutions like Azure Data Box Edge and Azure Stack, powered by Intel Xeon processors.”

One example class of applications are wearable cognitive assistance applications based on the  Gabriel platform, a National Science Foundation-sponsored project led by Satyanarayanan. A Gabriel application is intended as an “angel on your shoulder,” observing a user and providing advice on a task. This technology might provide expert guidance to a user who is assembling furniture, or troubleshooting a complex piece of machinery, or helping someone use an AED device in an emergency.

A second example of the value edge computing brings to applications is OpenRTiST, which allows a user to see the world around them in real time, “through the eyes of an artist.” The video feed from the camera of a mobile device is transmitted to a cloudlet, transformed there by a deep neural network trained offline to learn the artistic features of a famous painting, and returned to the user’s device as a video feed. The entire round trip is fast enough to preserve the illusion that the world around the user as displayed on the device is being continuously repainted by the artist. A video of OpenRTIST is available online.

Another class of applications envisioned for the Living Edge Laboratory are real-time assistive tools for visually impaired people to help them detect objects or people nearby. The video feeds of a stereoscopic camera on a user are transmitted to a nearby cloudlet, and real-time video analytics is used detect obstacles. This information is transmitted back to the user and communicated via vibro-tactile feedback.

“The Living Edge Laboratory not only can help determine what types of applications are possible, but also what kind of equipment or software works best for a given application,” Satyanarayanan said.

The lab was established through the Open Edge Computing Initiative, a group of leading companies, including Intel, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Crown Castle who have provided equipment, software and expertise.

“We welcome Microsoft as a new member of the Open Edge Computing Initiative and we very much look forward to explore Microsoft technologies in our Living Edge Laboratory,” said Rolf Schuster, director of the Open Edge Computing Initiative. “This is a great opportunity to drive attractive new business opportunities around edge computing for both the telecom as well as the cloud industry.”


Source: Carnegie Mellon University

Subscribe to HPCwire's Weekly Update!

Be the most informed person in the room! Stay ahead of the tech trends with industry updates delivered to you every week!

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, code-named Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from its predecessors, including the red-hot H100 and A100 GPUs. Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. While Nvidia may not spring to mind when thinking of the quant Read more…

2024 Winter Classic: Meet the HPE Mentors

March 18, 2024

The latest installment of the 2024 Winter Classic Studio Update Show features our interview with the HPE mentor team who introduced our student teams to the joys (and potential sorrows) of the HPL (LINPACK) and accompany Read more…

Houston We Have a Solution: Addressing the HPC and Tech Talent Gap

March 15, 2024

Generations of Houstonian teachers, counselors, and parents have either worked in the aerospace industry or know people who do - the prospect of entering the field was normalized for boys in 1969 when the Apollo 11 missi Read more…

Apple Buys DarwinAI Deepening its AI Push According to Report

March 14, 2024

Apple has purchased Canadian AI startup DarwinAI according to a Bloomberg report today. Apparently the deal was done early this year but still hasn’t been publicly announced according to the report. Apple is preparing Read more…

Survey of Rapid Training Methods for Neural Networks

March 14, 2024

Artificial neural networks are computing systems with interconnected layers that process and learn from data. During training, neural networks utilize optimization algorithms to iteratively refine their parameters until Read more…

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, code-named Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. Wh Read more…

Houston We Have a Solution: Addressing the HPC and Tech Talent Gap

March 15, 2024

Generations of Houstonian teachers, counselors, and parents have either worked in the aerospace industry or know people who do - the prospect of entering the fi Read more…

Survey of Rapid Training Methods for Neural Networks

March 14, 2024

Artificial neural networks are computing systems with interconnected layers that process and learn from data. During training, neural networks utilize optimizat Read more…

PASQAL Issues Roadmap to 10,000 Qubits in 2026 and Fault Tolerance in 2028

March 13, 2024

Paris-based PASQAL, a developer of neutral atom-based quantum computers, yesterday issued a roadmap for delivering systems with 10,000 physical qubits in 2026 a Read more…

India Is an AI Powerhouse Waiting to Happen, but Challenges Await

March 12, 2024

The Indian government is pushing full speed ahead to make the country an attractive technology base, especially in the hot fields of AI and semiconductors, but Read more…

Charles Tahan Exits National Quantum Coordination Office

March 12, 2024

(March 1, 2024) My first official day at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was June 15, 2020, during the depths of the COVID-19 loc Read more…

AI Bias In the Spotlight On International Women’s Day

March 11, 2024

What impact does AI bias have on women and girls? What can people do to increase female participation in the AI field? These are some of the questions the tech Read more…

Alibaba Shuts Down its Quantum Computing Effort

November 30, 2023

In case you missed it, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has shut down its quantum computing research effort. It’s not entirely clear what drove the change. Read more…

Nvidia H100: Are 550,000 GPUs Enough for This Year?

August 17, 2023

The GPU Squeeze continues to place a premium on Nvidia H100 GPUs. In a recent Financial Times article, Nvidia reports that it expects to ship 550,000 of its lat Read more…

Analyst Panel Says Take the Quantum Computing Plunge Now…

November 27, 2023

Should you start exploring quantum computing? Yes, said a panel of analysts convened at Tabor Communications HPC and AI on Wall Street conference earlier this y Read more…

DoD Takes a Long View of Quantum Computing

December 19, 2023

Given the large sums tied to expensive weapon systems – think $100-million-plus per F-35 fighter – it’s easy to forget the U.S. Department of Defense is a Read more…

Shutterstock 1285747942

AMD’s Horsepower-packed MI300X GPU Beats Nvidia’s Upcoming H200

December 7, 2023

AMD and Nvidia are locked in an AI performance battle – much like the gaming GPU performance clash the companies have waged for decades. AMD has claimed it Read more…

Synopsys Eats Ansys: Does HPC Get Indigestion?

February 8, 2024

Recently, it was announced that Synopsys is buying HPC tool developer Ansys. Started in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc. (SASI) by John Swanson (and eventually renamed), Ansys serves the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)/multiphysics engineering simulation market. Read more…

Intel’s Server and PC Chip Development Will Blur After 2025

January 15, 2024

Intel's dealing with much more than chip rivals breathing down its neck; it is simultaneously integrating a bevy of new technologies such as chiplets, artificia Read more…

Baidu Exits Quantum, Closely Following Alibaba’s Earlier Move

January 5, 2024

Reuters reported this week that Baidu, China’s giant e-commerce and services provider, is exiting the quantum computing development arena. Reuters reported � Read more…

Leading Solution Providers

Contributors

Choosing the Right GPU for LLM Inference and Training

December 11, 2023

Accelerating the training and inference processes of deep learning models is crucial for unleashing their true potential and NVIDIA GPUs have emerged as a game- Read more…

Training of 1-Trillion Parameter Scientific AI Begins

November 13, 2023

A US national lab has started training a massive AI brain that could ultimately become the must-have computing resource for scientific researchers. Argonne N Read more…

Shutterstock 1179408610

Google Addresses the Mysteries of Its Hypercomputer 

December 28, 2023

When Google launched its Hypercomputer earlier this month (December 2023), the first reaction was, "Say what?" It turns out that the Hypercomputer is Google's t Read more…

Comparing NVIDIA A100 and NVIDIA L40S: Which GPU is Ideal for AI and Graphics-Intensive Workloads?

October 30, 2023

With long lead times for the NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, many organizations are looking at the new NVIDIA L40S GPU, which it’s a new GPU optimized for AI and g Read more…

AMD MI3000A

How AMD May Get Across the CUDA Moat

October 5, 2023

When discussing GenAI, the term "GPU" almost always enters the conversation and the topic often moves toward performance and access. Interestingly, the word "GPU" is assumed to mean "Nvidia" products. (As an aside, the popular Nvidia hardware used in GenAI are not technically... Read more…

Shutterstock 1606064203

Meta’s Zuckerberg Puts Its AI Future in the Hands of 600,000 GPUs

January 25, 2024

In under two minutes, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, laid out the company's AI plans, which included a plan to build an artificial intelligence system with the eq Read more…

Google Introduces ‘Hypercomputer’ to Its AI Infrastructure

December 11, 2023

Google ran out of monikers to describe its new AI system released on December 7. Supercomputer perhaps wasn't an apt description, so it settled on Hypercomputer Read more…

China Is All In on a RISC-V Future

January 8, 2024

The state of RISC-V in China was discussed in a recent report released by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The report, entitled "E Read more…

  • arrow
  • Click Here for More Headlines
  • arrow
HPCwire