Transcript
Processing speed will also continue to accelerate in the conventional computers we use every day, thanks to research at North Carolina State University.
Computer engineers recently invented new hardware, called HAQu, which allows programs to operate more efficiently by improving the speed at which the "cores" on a computer chip communicate with each other.
The core is the central processing unit of a computer chip. Today, most chips contain between four and eight cores. In order to perform a task faster, those cores need to communicate with each other, but there are no direct ways for them to do so. Instead, one core sends data to memory, and another core retrieves it using software algorithms.
According to NC State assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering Dr. James Tuck, "Our technology is more efficient because it provides a single instruction to send data to another core, which is six times faster than the best state of the art software we could find."
HAQu improves data-sharing using the existing data paths on a computer chip. Next, the team plans to build a prototype using HAQu to show that it improves processing speed within a complex system.
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY, January 31, 2011, "New Hardware Boosts Communication Speed on Multi-Core Chips," by Matt Shipman. Copyright 2011 North Carolina State University. All rights reserved.
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