Vanguard Magazine

42 APRIL/MAY 2024 www.vanguardcanada.com T H E LA S T W O R D standard HPC (COM-HPC) can increase the functionality of edge computing in command-and-control environments and communications. However, it's not just edge computing that's utilizing HPC. It's within engineer- ing and manufacturing that it continues to supply modelling for enhancements in aerospace, at sea, and on-the-ground in- novation. As Dr. Roy Campbell, chief strategist for the department of defense (DoD) high per- formance computing (HPC) moderniza- tion program (HPCMP) says, "Removing bad designs and refining good ones early through virtual testing saves an extraordi- nary amount of time and money." He notes that troubleshooting for the Sikorsky CH- 53K King Stallion heavy-lift cargo helicop- ter revealed they were highly inefficient whenever they flew near the ground. Be- cause the helicopters were at low altitudes, engine exhaust was looping back into the engine and straining them. He suggested that the troubleshooting exercise probably saved more than $100 million in testing. HPC enables businesses across defence manufacturing industries to capitalize in- novation, boost productivity, and maintain competitive advantage. Leveraging ad- vanced technologies like cloud supercom- puting, AI, machine learning, and big data analysis, companies can craft products and services of greater value. For aerospace, HPC enables complex simulations and modelling, structural mechanics, and fluid dynamics, with detailed analyses of perfor- mance, including airflow patterns, stress distribution, and fuel efficiency. Aside from the required innovation needed for battlespace, defence manufac- turing is big business, and HPC will con- tinue to play a pivotal role despite Moore's Law no longer applying. In fact, in 2023 the U.S. DOD announced it was to invest "$238 million in CHIPS and Science Act funding for eight Microelectronics Com- mons regional innovation hubs", while in 2022, Amazon Web services (AWS) and the MOD agreed a three-year deal to "bol- ster defence sector's digital skills". Scalability has been key The scalability and cost-effectiveness driv- en by Moore's Law has significantly influ- enced the development of cloud comput- ing. The ability to pack more transistors onto a chip has led to more powerful and affordable hardware, making it feasible for cloud service providers to offer ro- bust computing resources at a lower cost whereby cloud computing leverages the principles of virtualization and on-demand resource allocation. The technologies and innovation sitting behind Moore's Law have empowered cloud providers to con- tinually enhance their infrastructure, pro- viding suppliers to the defence sector with the ability to scale up or down as needed. Meanwhile, the rapid evolution of semi- conductor technology has spurred innova- tion in cloud services. Cloud providers can leverage the latest hardware advancements to offer new and improved services to their users. This continuous cycle of innovation enhances the agility of cloud platforms, al- lowing them to adapt to changing techno- logical landscapes. While growth of HPC and the cloud aligns with Moore's predictions, it faces challenges such as physical limitations and the diminishing returns of miniaturiza- tion. As transistors approach atomic scales, alternative technologies such as quantum computing may become necessary for sus- taining the pace of progress. The Implications of Moore's Law At one level, we could be forgiven for thinking that we are close to reaching the limits in available computational power. But that's actually not the case. The cloud will continue to be the principal catalyst for HPC's growing impact across all sec- tors, so long as industry works smarter with the tools available to improve effi- ciencies and outcomes. Much of that will be down to training and funding. Crucially, it's about under- standing where the true power lies, where petabytes of data are processed in millisec- onds. This is echoed in Red Oak Consult- ing's industry report, 'Incorporating the Cloud into the HPC Mix', where the im- pact of HPC and the cloud are explained in more detail. Over time needs will evolve, as does the nature of support required. What is criti- cal, however, is that as the defence man- ufacturing sector evolves with HPC in extracting the maximum benefits. Tomor- row's battlespace depends on it. Owen Thomas is Co-Founder & Senior Partner, Red Oak Consulting For aerospace, HPC enables complex simulations and modelling, structural mechanics, and fluid dynamics, with detailed analyses of performance, including airflow patterns, stress distribution, and fuel efficiency. Royal Canadian Air Force CF-188 Hornets perform air-to-air refuelling from a CC-150 Polaris over Romania during Operation REASSURANCE. Photo: Aviator Avery Philpott, Canadian Armed Forces

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