Teraflop Computing in Your Palm

DARPA is looking to build embedded computers out of commercial graphics chips. Their target applications are small, hand-held devices like sensors (imagery, chem/bio, motion, acoustic, etc.). They would prefer to do the signal processing on the sensor device rather than downloading it to a processing center. Downloading requires lots of bandwidth and power to send the info. If the processing is on the sensor, then the transmitted information can be simplified to something like [ID, Target Type, Location, Velocity ... and other parameters]. This can go in short transmission bursts. If the processing is on the sensor, then the computer/chip has to be small, low cost, and low power. Reusing commercial chips is the best approach to get low cost because commercial customers will amortize the development costs. That is what led them to Nvidia chips.

The project looks forward to a day when the processing on the sensor is equal to a current supercomputer (Teraflops). Imagine a hand-held digital camera like something that you can get at Best Buy - but with 500Mpixels and a computer inside. Once the picture is taken the camera can process the image, extract the people in the picture, search a local database and identify the names of the people in the picture, their general location, and the season of the year. All of this could become metadata so that when the picture is posted to the web (like Flikr) the metadata explains what is in the picture and everyone on the net can search for pictures with specific characteristics. If the sensor also has a cellular net connection, the pictures can be uploaded in real-time.

What does this have to do with simulation and training?
IF such a computer in a handheld device existed, then you could run WARSIM or OneSAF on your own Palm Pilot-sized device. You could also hook up to everyone else who is running a simulation on their Palm Pilot, share scenarios, collaboratively train. It would be to modern simulation centers what Wikipedia has been to the Encyclopedia Britannica. It would allow the masses to create and run their own exercises. Like Wikipedia vs. Britannica, the sim center staff is going to immediately criticize this plan because it lacks the "experts". But if you have followed what has happened on Wikipedia you will have noticed that "the masses" have a lot of expertise and are quick to share it when a medium like Wikipedia is available.