Challenging supercomputer The Second National Center for High-performance Computing Cup for applications efficiency optimization competition

Supercomputers and high-performance computing are keys to the development of modern science and technology while talent cultivation is of essence as well. The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has actively cultivated talent in high-performance computing. National Center for High-performance Computing of National Applied Research Laboratories, an NSTC subordinate agency, in executing the National Science and Technology Council policy, hosted “The Second National Center for High-performance Computing Cup for applications efficiency optimization competition", attracting bright computer programmers in the nation’s colleges and high schools to compete in this contest to fine tune supercomputer’s efficiency and solve applications problems. In the end, NTHU-team2 of Tsinghua University won the championship and prize money of NT$100,000. NTHU-ZY of Tsinghua University and YoshiGawa of Cheng Kung University won the second and third places, respectively. Two high school teams, Chiayi High School and Mingdao High School Joint Team and National Taiwan Normal University Affiliated Senior High School and Fuxing Experimental Senior High School Joint Team) received honorable mentions.

“The Second National Center for High-performance Computing Cup for applications efficiency optimization competition" used a model similar to that of the world’s largest supercomputer competition SCC (Student Cluster Competition) to test students’ ability to set up and use a supercomputer, including installation in a clustered computing environment, computing performance tuning and optimization, and application problem solving. It is hoped that the competition will stimulate the interest and enthusiasm of students in learning supercomputer-related skills, cultivate talents who can use supercomputers to help solve problems in diverse fields in the future, and inject a new momentum for the application and development of high-performance computing in Taiwan. 

All computer equipment used in this competition were located off-site. Each team was equipped with 4 independent hosts, each included 2 CPUs and 4 Tesla P100 GPUs. All participating teams must remotely login to establish a cluster environment, build mediation software, and test parallel computing efficiency. The organizers of this competition also designed and used two application questions and one hidden question to guide participants to use high-performance computing for application problem solving. 

This year's application was about flow and atmosphere, which tested the contestants’ ability to solve and apply parallel programs using Basilisk, an open-source fluid mechanics library. The atmospheric question asked the participating teams to reproduce the development history and path simulation of Typhoon Meihua in September 2022. In addition, there was a hidden question HPL-AI, which was computing performance benchmarking software for AI hosts. This problem added challenges to all contestants and required them to react.

NTHU-team2 of Tsinghua University won the championship. It effectively used the computing efficiency of all hardware and fully addressed all the application problems. NTHU-team2 thanked the National Center for High-performance Computing for providing the valuable opportunity for it to execute the project end to end; they will also use their experience from this competition to perform well when they take part in the 6th Asia-Pacific High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence Competition (2023 APAC HPC-AI), to be held online in from August to October in 2023. 

Professor Huang KuoChan of the Department of Computer Science of Taichung University of Education, one of the judges, said that it is quite important for the knowledge in supercomputer technology to be passed from one generation to the next, and he saw hope in this when he saw young students so motivated in learning. Professor Lin Chun-Yuan of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering of Asia University, another judge, pointed out that the core strength of AI, now all the rage, is found in high-performance computing. He encouraged students to integrate what they had learned here about high-performance computing into their daily lives.

In addition to the 5 teams contesting in this year's competition, 3 teams were there to observe and learn. The National Center for High-performance Computing of National Applied Research Laboratories and Tsinghua University co-hosted HPC X AI Summer Camp, participants of which also came to visit and learn about the competition. The National Center for High-performance Computing Director General Chau-Lyan Chang said that he hopes that through this arrangement, an endless stream of new talents can work in high-performance computing in the future. He encouraged more young students interested in the field of supercomputing to participate in competitions to gain an in-depth understanding of high-performance computing, and put that understanding to work in practice as well as to combine supercomputing cross-field applications so that technology can be used to improve lives. It is expected that these young students will become the backbone of the development of science and technology in the near future. 

National Center for High-performance Computing Director General Chau-Lyan Chang awarded prizes to champions NTHU-team2 of Tsinghua University. 

Director Lin Chao-An of the Department of Motivation Engineering of Tsinghua University presented the award to the runner-up NTHU-ZY of Tsinghua University.

Professor Chou Yi-Ju from the Institute of Applied Mechanics of National Taiwan University presented the award to the third place YoshiGawa team of Cheng Kung University.

Professor Lin Chun-Yuan from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering of Asia University presented an honorable mention award to the Affiliated High School of National Normal University and Fuxing Experimental High School Joint Team.

Professor Huang Kuo-Chan of the Department of Computer Science of Taichung University of Education presented an honorable mention award to Chiayi High School and Mingdao High School Joint Team.

A group photo of the Second National Center for High-performance Computing Cup for applications efficiency optimization competition