We have received funding from Google to collaborate on a new protocol for data centres called bittide. Bittide is a novel architecture for distributed systems, proposed by Google. Bitide is a physical layer ptotocol, which achieves "logical synchrony", without the need for actual clock synchronisation protocols. Logical synchrony ensures that buffers between communicating nodes are always bounded and also the communication delay is logically bounded.
In this project, we will develop an emulation platform of a network of bitide nodes. We will use a set of FPGA boards, which will extend the RISC-V architecture for prototyping a bittide-like system of distributed FPGAs that ensure determinitic execution of applications. Some sample applications for consideration include synchronous neural networks, microsimulation of vehicle plattons etc.
References:
Lall S, Caşcaval C, Izzard M, Spalink T. Modeling and Control of bittide Synchronization. In2022 American Control Conference (ACC) 2022 Jun 8 (pp. 5185-5192). IEEE.
Roop PS, Pearce H, Monadjem K. Synchronous neural networks for cyber-physical systems. In2018 16th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Formal Methods and Models for System Design (MEMOCODE) 2018 Oct 15 (pp. 1-10). IEEE.
Undergraduate
1) A distributed system that communicates using the bittide protocol
2) An example application over bitide.
1) Good background in software / hardware design
2) Interest in distribted systems
No lab has been assigned to this project