Ensemble Computing: Opportunities and Challenges
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Intel® Technology Journal | Volume 14, Issue 1, 2010 ENSEMBLE COMPUTING: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES Contributors Roy Want Abstract Intel Corporation SSinceince tthehe aadventdvent ooff tthehe fi rrstst ppracticalractical mmobileobile ccomputersomputers mmoreore tthanhan 2200 yyearsears aago,go, aadvancesdvances iinn tthehe uunderlyingnderlying ttechnologyechnology hhaveave mmovedoved ooutut ooff rresearchesearch aandnd EEveve SSchoolerchooler ddevelopmentevelopment aandnd iintonto bbothoth tthehe eenterprisenterprise aandnd tthehe aarearea ooff cconsumeronsumer eelectronics.lectronics. IIntelntel CCorporationorporation TToday,oday, mmobileobile nnetworkedetworked ccomputersomputers aarere uubiquitous.biquitous. TTrendsrends tthathat hhaveave eenablednabled Lenka Jelinek tthishis rrevolutionevolution iincludenclude iimprovedmproved pprocessorrocessor pperformance,erformance, eexponentiallyxponentially Intel Corporation iincreasingncreasing sstoragetorage ddensity,ensity, aandnd hhigh-bandwidthigh-bandwidth sstandardizedtandardized rradios:adios: aallll ooff tthesehese ccomputersomputers cconsumeonsume llessess ppowerower aandnd aarere ppackagedackaged iinn ssmallermaller fform-factorsorm-factors tthanhan JJaeyeonaeyeon JJungung ttheirheir ppredecessors.redecessors. HHowever,owever, tthehe fformationormation ooff mmobileobile ccollectionsollections ooff ddevices,evices, IIntelntel CCorporationorporation oorr eensembles,nsembles, ccanan ffurtherurther bbuilduild oonn tthehe nnetworketwork eeffff eectct ttoo aamplifymplify eensembles’nsembles’ uusefulness,sefulness, a ppropertyroperty fi rrstst oobservedbserved wwithith ttelephony,elephony, aandnd llaterater tthehe IInternet.nternet. Dan Dahle EEnsemblesnsembles ccanan bbee ccreatedreated bbyy uusingsing nnowow ccommonlyommonly aavailablevailable wwirelessireless aandnd Intel Corporation wwiredired sstandards,tandards, pprovidingroviding aann aaggregateggregate vvaluealue ttoo a uuserser tthathat iiss ggreaterreater tthanhan tthehe ssumum ooff tthehe ccomponentomponent pparts.arts. IInn tthishis aarticle,rticle, wwee eexaminexamine tthehe oopportunitiespportunities fforor UUttamttam SenguptaSengupta eensemblensemble ccomputing;omputing; cclassifylassify tthehe mmainain uusagessages aandnd aapplicationpplication ddomains;omains; rrevieweview IIntelntel CCorporationorporation eenablingnabling ccomponentomponent ttechnologies,echnologies, aandnd ppointoint ooutut tthehe rresearchesearch cchallengeshallenges tthathat nneedeed ttoo bbee aaddressedddressed ttoo rrealizeealize tthehe ffullull ppotentialotential ooff tthehe eensemblensemble cconcept.oncept. Introduction Index Words Th e hhistoryistory ooff mmodernodern ccomputingomputing ccanan bbee ddividedivided iintonto tthreehree ddistinctistinct eeras,ras, eeachach EEnsemblesnsembles ccharacterizedharacterized bbyy tthehe nnumberumber ooff ccomputersomputers aavailablevailable ttoo aann aaverageverage uuser.ser. DDuringuring MMobileobile ComputingComputing tthehe fi rrstst eera,ra, ddominatedominated bbyy tthehe mmainframeainframe ((1960-1980),1960-1980), ttherehere wwereere ttypicallyypically DDistributedistributed SystemsSystems mmanyany ppeopleeople uusingsing a ssingleingle ccomputer.omputer. IInn tthehe PPersonalersonal CComputeromputer ((PC)PC) eerara CContext-awareontext-aware ((1980-2000),1980-2000), mmostost ppeopleeople hhadad ttheirheir oownwn PPC.C. TToday,oday, wwee aarere iinn tthehe tthirdhird eerara WWirelessireless NNetworkingetworking ((20002000 oonwards)nwards) iinn wwhichhich iitt iiss nnowow ccommonommon fforor ppeopleeople ttoo oownwn aandnd uusese mmanyany ccomputers,omputers, ssometimesometimes rreferredeferred ttoo aass tthehe eerara ooff uubiquitousbiquitous ccomputingomputing [[1].1]. IInn aadditionddition ttoo tthehe ttrendrend ooff iincreasingncreasing nnumbersumbers ooff ccomputingomputing ddevicesevices pperer ppersonerson pperer yyear,ear, wwee hhaveave sseeneen iimprovedmproved pprocessorrocessor pperformanceerformance ((drivendriven bbyy MMoore’soore’s LLaw)aw) aandnd ggreaterreater nnetworketwork cconnectivityonnectivity fforor mmobileobile ccomputersomputers tthathat hhaveave bbeeneen mmadeade ppossibleossible tthroughhrough iinnovationsnnovations iinn sstandardizedtandardized wwirelessireless ttechnologies.echnologies. Th eesese sstandardstandards pproviderovide hhigh-bandwidthigh-bandwidth ddata-transmission,ata-transmission, aallowingllowing sseamlesseamless ccoordinationoordination bbetweenetween aapplications,pplications, aandnd ttheyhey eenablenable ffullyully ddistributedistributed aandnd rreplicatedeplicated pprogrammingrogramming mmodels.odels. BByy a mmeasureeasure ccalledalled tthehe nnetworketwork eeffff eect,ct, oorr MMetcalfe’setcalfe’s LLawaw [[2],2], N ddevicesevices cconnectedonnected iinn tthishis wwayay ccreatereate a ttotalotal nnetworketwork vvaluealue pproportionalroportional ttoo tthehe nnumberumber ooff cconnectionsonnections ttheyhey ccanan mmakeake mmultipliedultiplied bbyy tthehe nnumberumber ooff ddevicesevices pparticipating;articipating; tthishis rresultsesults iinn tthehe nnetworketwork vvaluealue ggrowingrowing aatt OO(N(N2)).. OOrchestratedrchestrated ccollectionsollections ooff ccomputersomputers ccanan tthushus pproviderovide ggreaterreater aaggregateggregate vvaluealue ttoo uuserssers tthanhan wwouldould bbee eexpectedxpected ffromrom a ssimpleimple ssumum ooff tthehe ccomponentomponent pparts.arts. 118 | Ensemble Computing: Opportunities and Challenges Intel® Technology Journal | Volume 14, Issue 1, 2010 AAlthoughlthough ddistributedistributed pprogrammingrogramming hhasas bbeeneen tthehe ssubjectubject ooff rresearchesearch fforor ““WeWe ccallall ddynamicallyynamically ccoordinatedoordinated ssomeome ttimeime wwithith iitsts ffoundationoundation iinn nnetworksetworks ooff ttraditionalraditional sserverservers oorr ddesktopesktop ccomputers,omputers, mmobileobile ccomputingomputing bbringsrings ddynamicallyynamically cchanginghanging ttopologies,opologies, ccollectionsollections ooff ccomputers,omputers, wwhichhich iincludenclude ccontext-awareness,ontext-awareness, aandnd mmoreore diversediverse ccollectionsollections ofof computingcomputing rresources,esources, bbothoth mmobileobile aandnd iinfrastructurenfrastructure aaddingdding a nnewew ddimensionimension ttoo tthishis fi eeld.ld. WWee ccallall ddynamicallyynamically ccoordinatedoordinated ccollectionsollections ooff ccomputers,omputers, wwhichhich iincludenclude bbothoth mmobileobile aandnd iinfrastructurenfrastructure ccomponents,omponents, DDeviceevice EEnsemblesnsembles..”” ccomponents,omponents, DDeviceevice EEnsemblesnsembles [[3],3], aandnd tthehe ttechniquesechniques fforor pprogrammingrogramming aandnd oorchestratingrchestrating ttheirheir aapplications,pplications, EEnsemblensemble CComputingomputing. TV/STB Cell Tower Den PC Smart Phone Server Laptop Localized Ensemble in the Digital Home Internet Wide-area Ensemble Across a City Figure 1: Ensembles of Devices a) Localized: Based on Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), b) Wide-area: Based on Wireless Wide-area Network (WWAN), Properties: Dynamic Confi guration/Heterogeneous/Context-aware Source: Intel Corporation, 2010 EEnsemblesnsembles ccanan bbee ccreatedreated fforor ddiffiff eerentrent sscalescales ooff uuse,se, pprimarilyrimarily ddeterminedetermined bbyy ggeographiceographic sseparation.eparation. IInn ccloselose pproximityroximity ((localizedlocalized eensembles—Figurensembles—Figure 11a),a), a ccomputeromputer ccanan bbee eenhancednhanced bbyy ddynamicallyynamically aaddingdding nnewew wwirelessireless pperipherals,eripherals, ee.g.,.g., a wwirelessireless hheadset.eadset. AAlternatively,lternatively, ccomputersomputers ccanan mmutuallyutually shareshare ttheirheir oownwn ssystemystem rresourcesesources ssuchuch aass ddisplays,isplays, nnetworks,etworks, aandnd ddisks.isks. PProcessorrocessor ssharingharing bbetweenetween ddevicesevices iiss aalsolso ppossibleossible tthroughhrough tthehe mmigrationigration ooff aapplicationspplications eencapsulatedncapsulated iinn a vvirtualirtual mmachineachine iimage,mage, mmigratingigrating tthemhem bbetweenetween llow-ow- aandnd hhigh-performanceigh-performance ccomputers.omputers. SSharingharing rresourcesesources iinn tthishis wwayay eeffff eectivelyctively bbuildsuilds llogicalogical ccomputersomputers bbyy wwirelesslyirelessly ppiecingiecing ttogetherogether nnewew ccomponentsomponents oonn tthehe fl yy,, ““SharingSharing rresourcesesources iinn tthishis wwayay tthushus eenablingnabling a uuserser ttoo oovercomevercome tthehe ddesignesign llimitationsimitations ooff ttheirheir oownwn ccomputeromputer bbyy uusingsing wwhateverhatever ccanan bbee ffoundound nnearbyearby [[4].4]. IInn llocalizedocalized eensembles,nsembles, pproximityroximity eeffff ectivelyectively buildsbuilds llogicalogical ccomputersomputers iiss a pprerequisitererequisite fforor ccomponentsomponents tthathat ssupportupport a uuserser iinterfacenterface ((e.g.,e.g., ddisplay,isplay, bbyy wwirelesslyirelessly ppiecingiecing ttogetherogether nnewew ccamera,amera, kkeyboard,eyboard, mmouse),ouse), aass iitt oonlynly mmakesakes ssenseense ttoo ssharehare tthesehese ccomponentsomponents wwhenhen ttheyhey aarere pphysicallyhysically aaccessibleccessible ttoo a uuser.ser. ccomponentsomponents oonn tthehe fl yy.”.” Ensemble Computing: Opportunities and Challenges | 119 Intel® Technology Journal | Volume 14, Issue 1, 2010 IInn ccontrast,ontrast, eensemblensemble aapplicationspplications bbasedased oonn hhighlyighly ddistributedistributed ssetsets