Optically-Linked Raspberry Pi Beowulf Cluster
Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
Major
Computer Science
Minor
Computer Information Systems
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Marc Beck, PhD
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Beowulf clusters have been a common solution for meeting scientific and large-scale calculation needs. These clusters are generally much cheaper than a supercomputer and can tackle much larger problems than a normal PC. Raspberry Pis are cheap, small computers that can be used as cost-effective nodes for a Beowulf cluster. They have been shown to be effective as nodes in a Beowulf cluster for larger calculations. Any Beowulf cluster requires a way to pass data between nodes while performing parallel calculations. Optical links provide an interesting solution for quickly passing data between computers over a short distance. This project uses beams of light as optical links to pass the data between the nodes in the cluster. This paper describes the design and development of a Beowulf cluster with Raspberry Pi nodes that are optically linked to evaluate the viability and speed of an optically-linked Beowulf cluster and compare its computation speed to a traditional Beowulf cluster.
Start Date
16-11-2018 9:30 AM
Fall Scholars Week 2018 Event
Honors College Senior Theses
Optically-Linked Raspberry Pi Beowulf Cluster
Beowulf clusters have been a common solution for meeting scientific and large-scale calculation needs. These clusters are generally much cheaper than a supercomputer and can tackle much larger problems than a normal PC. Raspberry Pis are cheap, small computers that can be used as cost-effective nodes for a Beowulf cluster. They have been shown to be effective as nodes in a Beowulf cluster for larger calculations. Any Beowulf cluster requires a way to pass data between nodes while performing parallel calculations. Optical links provide an interesting solution for quickly passing data between computers over a short distance. This project uses beams of light as optical links to pass the data between the nodes in the cluster. This paper describes the design and development of a Beowulf cluster with Raspberry Pi nodes that are optically linked to evaluate the viability and speed of an optically-linked Beowulf cluster and compare its computation speed to a traditional Beowulf cluster.