Workshop on Computing at the Margins
Sustaining and Accelerating Scaling Through Adaptation, Resilience and Tolerance
Rice University, May 7-8 Arlington, VA
In this invitation-only workshop, we intend to explore and develop a vision for how future systems can function on the margin of available resources, constrained either by static limits (e.g., the power budget for a supercomputer or data center) or by dynamic deviations (e.g., battery drain or failing sensors in a UAV). The focus is on system designs that generate acceptable or “good enough” solutions in the presence of severe resource limits. Examples range from supercomputing applications performing numerical and computational algebra to embedded and mobile applications such as a UAV. On the one hand, the goal is to explore computing technologies that enable applications that are not possible within the confines of stable computing environments in which massive margins prevent loss of functionality with high probability. Interesting novel examples include 2-D phosphorous and graphene. On the other hand, we seek computational solutions that vary output quality as system resources fluctuate. Several research challenges must be overcome to accomplish this two-pronged goal, ranging from novel programming and compilation mechanisms to tools for performing system adaptation and validating system correctness. Application domains ranging from atmospheric and ocean modeling to signal processing including video, radar, and sonar, as well as vision and hearing are all likely candidates for new resource-efficient system designs; we invite contributions from specialists in these and other domains.