Under a new ’computational sprinting’ power and heat management scheme for smartphones, the devices work hard for brief periods of time and then rest, much like sprinters. The concept could drastically improve multimedia applications. Image credit: Rose Anderson
ANN ARBOR, Mich.-Computational sprinting is a groundbreaking new approach to smartphone power and cooling that could give users dramatic, brief bursts of computing capability to improve current applications and make new ones possible. Its developers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan are pushing mobile chips beyond their sustainable operating limits, much like a sprinter who runs fast for a short distance. The researchers will present a paper on their concept today (Feb. 28) at the International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture in New Orleans. "Normally, these devices are designed for sustained performance, so that they can run full bore forever. We're proposing a computer system that can perform a giant surge of computation, but then gets tired and has time to rest," said Thomas Wenisch, study co-author and an assistant professor at the U-M Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "We asked, 'What if we designed a chip to run at 16 times the sustainable rate, but only for half a second? Can we do it without burning out the chip?'" said one of the study's authors, Milo Martin, associate professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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