Adapteva

Adapteva, Inc
Industry Semiconductor industry
Founded March 2008
Founder Andreas Olofsson
Headquarters Lexington, Massachusetts, US
Key people
 Andreas Olofsson, CEO
Products Central processing units
Owner Privately funded
Website adapteva.com

Adapteva is a fabless semiconductor company focusing on low power many core microprocessor design. The company was the second company to announce a design with 1,000 specialized processing cores on a single chip.[1][2]

Adapteva was founded in March 2008 by Andreas Olofsson with the goal of bringing a 10× advancement in floating point performance per watt for the mobile device market. The company is known for products based on its Epiphany scalable multi-core MIMD architecture and it's Parallella Kickstarter project promoting "a supercomputer for everyone" in September 2012.

The company name is a combination of "adapt" and the Hebrew word "Teva" meaning nature. The name is a reflection of the company's key technology and business philosophy.

History

Adapteva was founded in March 2008 by Andreas Olofsson. The company was founded with the goal of bringing a 10× advancement in floating point processing energy efficiency for the mobile device market. In May 2009, Mr. Olofsson had taped out the first prototype based on a new type of massively parallel multi-core computer architecture. The initial prototype was implemented in 65 nm and had 16 independent microprocessor cores. The initial prototypes enabled Adapteva to secure US$1.5M in Series-A funding from BittWare, a company from Concord, New Hampshire, in October 2009.[3]

Adapteva's first commercial chip product started sampling to customers in early May 2011 and they soon thereafter announced the capability to put up to 4,096 cores on a single chip.

The current version, Epiphany III, was announced in October 2011 and has been taped-out at 28 nm and is available in 65nm, while the 64-cores, 28nm version was said to be generally available in January 2012, and has been sampled and shipped but isn't generally available as of August 2014.

Products

Adapteva's main product family is the Epiphany scalable multi-core MIMD architecture. The Epiphany architecture could accommodate chips with up to 4,096 RISC out-of-order microprocessors, all sharing a single 32-bit flat memory space. Each RISC processor in the Epiphany architecture is superscalar with 64× 32-bit unified register file (integer or single precision) microprocessor operating up to 1 GHz and capable of 2 GFLOPS (single precision). Epiphany's RISC processors use a custom instruction set architecture (ISA) optimised for single precision floating point,[4] but are programmable in high level ANSI C using a standard GNU-GCC tool chain. Each RISC processor (in current implementations; not fixed in the architecture) has 32 KB of local memory. Code (possibly duplicated in each core) and stack space should be in that local memory; in addition (most) temporary data should fit there for full speed. Data can also be used from other processor cores local memory at a speed penalty, or off-chip RAM with much larger speed penalty.

The memory architecture is unusual in that it doesn't employ explicit hierarchy or hardware caches, similar to the Sony/Toshiba/IBM cell processor, but with the additional benefit of off-chip & inter-core loads & stores being supported - which simplifies porting software to the architecture. It is a hardware implementation of partitioned global address space.

This eliminates the need for complex cache coherency hardware, which places a practical limit on the number of cores in a traditional multicore system. The design allows the programmer to leverage greater foreknowledge of independent data access patterns to avoid the runtime cost of figuring this out. All processor nodes are connected through a Network On Chip, allowing efficient message passing.[5]

Scalability

The architecture is designed to scale almost indefinitely with 4 e-links allowing multiple chips to be combined in a grid topology, allowing for systems with thousands of cores.

Epiphany multi-core coprocessors

16-core Adapteva Epiphany chip, E16G301, from Parallella single-board computer.

On August 19, 2012, Adapteva posted some specifications and information about Epiphany multi-core coprocessors.[6]

Technical info for    E16G301[7]   E64G401[8]
Cores 16 64
Core MHz 1000 800
Core GFLOPS/s 2 1.6
"Sum GHz" 16 51.2
Sum GFLOPS 32 102
mm² 8.96 8.2
nm 65 28
W def. 0.9 1.4
W max. 2 2

In September 2012, a 16-core version, the Epiphany-III (E16G301), was produced using 65 nm[9] (11.5 mm2, 500 MHz chip[10]) and engineering samples of 64-core Epiphany-IV (E64G401) were produced using 28 nm GlobalFoundries process (800 MHz).[11]

The primary markets for the Epiphany multi-core architecture include:

Parallella project

Parallella single-board computer with 16-core Epiphany chip and Zynq-7010 FPGA.

In September 2012, Adapteva started project Parallella on Kickstarter, which was marketed as "A Supercomputer for everyone." Architecture reference manuals for the platform were published as part of the campaign to attract attention to the project.[12] The US$750,000 funding goal was reached in a month, with a minimum contribution of US$99 entitling backers to obtain one device; although the initial deadline was set for May 2013, the first single-board computers with 16-core Epiphany chip were finally shipped in December 2013.[13]

Size of board is planned to be 86 mm × 53 mm (3.4 in × 2.1 in).[14][15][16]

The campaign successfully raised US$898,921 via the Kickstarter campaign.[17][18] Raising US$3 million goal was unsuccessful, so no 64-core version of Parallella will be mass-produced.[19] Kickstarter users having donated more than US$750 will get "parallella-64" variant with 64-core coprocessor (made from initial prototype manufacturing with 50 chips yield per wafer).[20]

Features
Processor Dual-core 32-bit ARM Cortex-A9 with NEON at 1 GHz (part of Zynq chip by Xilinx)
Coprocessor      16-core Epiphany III multi-core accelerator (E16)
Performance 16 cores[19] with 600 MHz each, 25–26 GFLOPs (preliminary;[14] single precision), 25 GIPS[21]
Memory 1 GB DDR3L RAM
USB 2× USB 2.0 (USB 2.0 HS and USB OTG)
Ethernet 10/100/1000
Display HDMI
Storage 16 GB microSD
Expansion Two 48-pin GPIO expansion headers
Power USB powered (2.5 W) or 5 V DC (~5 W)

Performance

Joel Hruska from Extremetech has the following derogatory opinion about this project: "Adapteva is drastically overselling what the Epiphany IV can actually deliver. 16–64 tiny cores with small amounts of memory, no local caches, and a relatively low clock speed can still be useful in certain workloads, but contributors aren't buying a supercomputer—they're buying the real-world equivalent of a self-sealing stem bolt."[22]

The criticism that the Epiphany chips cannot provide anywhere near the performance of modern supercomputers is nevertheless correct: actually, current Epiphany chips with 16-cores or 64-cores and c. 25 or 100 GFLOPs in single precision, respectively, do not even match the floating-point performance of modern desktop PC processors (Core i7-4770K (Haswell), 4× cores @ 3.5 GHz AVX2: 177 GFLOPS,[23] double precision) – a fact that is acknowledged by Adapteva.

However, the latest Parallella boards with E16 Epiphany chips[24] can be compared to many ancient supercomputers in terms of raw performance (just as an example, the Cray 1 – the first supercomputer per se – had a peak performance of 80 MFLOPS at 1976, and its successor the Cray 2 had a peak performance of 1.9 GFLOPS at 1985), and can certainly be used for parallel code development; The architectural similarities to supercomputers (message passing and NUMA) make it a potentially useful development system, compared to traditional SMP machines.

The point being that for a power envelope of 5 W and in terms of GFLOPS/mm2 of chip die space, the current E16 Epiphany chips provide vastly more performance than anything else available to date, with an architecture designed to scale, and applicable to more than just embarrassingly parallel GPU tasks.(e.g. it would be cable of running the actor model with many concurrent, fully independent states). It is also suitable for DSP-like tasks where data could be fed directly on chip (from an FPGA or other ASIC) without having to create buffers in temporary memory as for a GPU), making it ideal for robotics & other intelligent sensor applications.

The architecture also allows parallella boards to be combined into a cluster with a fast inter-chip 'eMesh' interconnect, extending the logical grid of cores (creating almost unlimited scaling potential).

The 16-core Parallella has roughly 5.0 GFLOPs/W, and the 64-core Epiphany-IV made with 28 nm estimated as 50 GFLOPs/W (single precision),[25] and 32-board system based on them has 15 GFLOPS/W.[26] For comparison, top GPUs from AMD and Nvidia reached 10 GFLOPs/W for single precision in 2009–2011 timeframe.[27]

Successor

The company has stated the aim to adopt the RISC-V ISA for as yet unnanounced follow up products.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Clark, Don (May 3, 2011). "Startup Has Big Plans for Tiny Chip Technology". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  2. ↑ "IBM says Kilocore technology will outrun today's mobile processors". Tom's Hardware. 2006.
  3. ↑ "From RTL to GDSII in Just Six Weeks". From RTL to GDSII in Just Six Weeks. EETimes. 2010. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Epiphany Architecture Reference Manual".
  5. ↑ "Startup Launches Manycore Floating Point Acceleration Technology". Startup Launches Manycore Floating Point Acceleration Technology. HPCWire. 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Epiphany Multicore IP. Example Configurations". August 19, 2012.
  7. ↑ Epiphany-III 16-core 65nm Microprocessor (E16G301) // admin (August 19, 2012)
  8. ↑ Epiphany-IV 64-core 28nm Microprocessor (E64G401) // admin (August 19, 2012)
  9. ↑ Silicon devices // Adapteva
  10. ↑ Linley Gwennap, Adapteva: More Flops, Less Watts. Epiphany Offers Floating-Point Accelerator for Mobile Processors. // Microprocessor Report, June 2011
  11. ↑ Michael Feldman, Adapteva Unveils 64-Core Chip // HPCWire
  12. ↑ Andreas Olofsson, Epiphany Documentation Release
  13. ↑ Update #46: First Parallella User Created Video
  14. 1 2 Rick Merritt, Adapteva Kickstarts Hundred-Dollar Supercomputer // EETimes, September 27, 2012
  15. ↑ "Parallella - Supercomputing for Everyone(slidecast)" // Adapteva Founder & CEO Andreas Olofsson (September 28, 2012)
  16. ↑ Parallella: A Supercomputer For Everyone by Adapteva, Project page at Kickstarter
  17. ↑ Parallella: A Supercomputer For Everyone // Kickstarter project, by Adapteva
  18. ↑ Hiawatha Bray, Adapteva creates efficient, cheap microchip with help from Kickstarter. ‘Crowdfunding’ puts a tiny, fast computer closer to production // The Boston Globe, December 2, 2012
  19. 1 2 Andrew Back, Introducing the $99 Linux Supercomputer, Linux.com, January 24, 2013: "pledges of $99 or more being rewarded with at least one board with a 16-core device. ... The 16-core Epiphany chip delivers 26 GFLOPS of performance and with the entire Parallella computer consuming only 5 watts"
  20. ↑ 64-core version of the Parallella board now offered! // Adapteva blog at Kickstarter, October 25, 2012: "The Epiphany-IV (64+2) core Parallella board will be offered for pledges above $750. ... the fact that we only get 50 dies per wafer for these initial prototype runs. We can't disclose wafer pricing and yields at 28nm,"
  21. ↑ Parallella Reference Manual 4.13.2.13, page 6-7 // Adapteva, 2013
  22. ↑ Joel Hruska (September 28, 2012). "Adapteva turns to Kickstarter to fund massively parallel processor". Extremetech.
  23. ↑ Dr. Donald Kinghorn (August 26, 2013). "Haswell Floating Point Performance". Puget Systems Blog.
  24. ↑ Andreas Olofsson (July 14, 2014). "New Parallella Product Offerings". Parallella Blog. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  25. ↑ Feldman, Michael (August 22, 2012). "Adapteva Unveils 64-Core Chip". HPCWire. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  26. ↑ "Adapteva Reveals A-1 Supercomputing Platform at ISC14". HPCWire, press-release of Adapteva. June 23, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  27. ↑ "CPU, GPU and MIC Hardware Characteristics over Time. Raw Compute Performance - Comparison of GFLOP/sec per Watt for single precision arithmetics. Higher is better.". Karl Rupp. June 24, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2014.

Further reading

External links

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