The European Commission has awarded the European GPU Consortium a total of 2.97 million Euros for the research and development of a novel development support tool that enables the analysis, visualization and improvement of the efficiency of applications running on GPUs.
The consortium includes three European technology companies: Codeplay, an Edinburgh-based GPU technology company, Think Silicon (a Greek company dedicated to the design of low-complexity IP cores) and Samsung Electronics UK Ltd. TU-Berlin (Germany), a European University, completes the group.
The main objectives of the 2-year development project are:
- Define new industry standards for monitoring resources and results, which are accepted by a large majority of GPU manufacturers (Khronos Group)
- Define a methodology for the accurate estimation of power consumed in embedded GPUs.
- Expand existing DVFS (Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling) mechanisms for optimal power control and longer-lasting performance.
- Improve power efficiency in applications that use the GPU for graphics or numerical calculations.
Building a unique tool for visualizing performance and power consumption, which will inform application and driver developers of potential improvements in GPU devices.
Andrew Richards, CEO of Codeplay, comments: “Working within this group of experts from both industry and academia to analyze the power consumption of video games and video processing is a fantastic opportunity for us at Codeplay. It will allow us to solve a very complex problem: extending smartphone battery life while utilizing advanced graphics.”
Ben Juurlink, project coordinator and lecturer at TU Berlin, adds: “Find bottlenecks that affect performance and/or power consumption in embedded GPUs is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is absolutely crucial to support application developers by providing them with analysis and visualization tools. Embedded GPUs are now powerful enough to run applications we could only dream of years ago. However, all this power is useless if the battery only lasts a few minutes.”
Philip Harmer of Samsung comments: “Consumers have become accustomed to mobile devices with powerful and fast graphics. Now they expect long battery life. The LPGPU2 project will provide developers with an advanced analytics tool that will help improve the power consumption and performance of their applications.”
Dr. Iakovos Stamoulis, CTO of Think Silicon, adds: “The design of new mobile and wearable/IoT devices with large amounts of multimedia content and limited power consumption has shifted our focus from performance to reducing power consumption, so that we can meet customer demands. It is absolutely essential to optimize systems at all levels: hardware, algorithms, and software applications that help reduce power consumption. The LPGPU2 project will allow us to measure, explore, and identify power consumption, which is crucial for achieving the desired efficiency levels.”
