The Center for Energy Efficient Systems will focus on optimizing energy utilization in electronic systems. SUNY at Binghamton, the University of Illinois, the University of Texas at Arlington and Georgia Tech are collaborating to establish the proposed center, with SUNY at Binghamton as the lead institution
The proposed center will focus on the development of systematic methodologies for operating electronic systems, including data centers, as dynamic self sensing and regulating systems that are predictive and verified in real time. Algorithms will be developed to control cooling resources and to assist expert system schedulers to schedule and/or migrate workload to achieve optimal energy consumption. Thermal management resources will also be allocated dynamically in response to system needs. Problem-oriented research related to Thermal Management and Protocols, Software Systems, Control Systems, and Implementation, will be addressed during the Center's first five year program.
The proposed center will enable a significant reduction in energy consumption in electronic systems, including data centers, thereby potentially reducing electrical power consumption across the nation. This will, in turn, reduce the nations consumption of carbon-based fuels and related emissions. The center will attract a diverse group of students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, by providing industrially-relevant training required by graduates entering the workforce. The center intends to leverage existing programming on its campuses to engage K-12 students in conversation on energy conservation, and is committed to attracting talented and motivated students from all groups.
The power trend for electronic systems in general and server systems, in particular, continues to grow at a significant rate, making energy optimization and thermal management a challenging task. Unfortunately, current models have not kept up with new design requirements in this area. In response to this situation and the need for new dynamic, predictive, and synergistic energy optimization and thermal management design criteria for electronic systems, the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) in Energy-Efficient Electronic Systems (E3S) proposed to work in partnership with industry and academia to develop systematic methodologies for operating information technology, telecommunications, electronic systems, and cooling equipment synergistically. The Center envisions dynamic self-sensing and self-regulating systems that are predictive, stable and verified in real time. The Center planning grant meeting was to bring together computer scientists, mechanical and electrical engineers interested in creating a synergistic multidisciplinary team to advance industrially relevant research in this area. The multi-institutional university leadership team, led by Bahgat Sammakia, Binghamton University included: Kanad Ghose and Bruce Murray, Binghamton University; Dereje Agonafer, University of Texas at Arlington; Yogendra Joshi, Georgia Institute of Technology; Andrew Alleyne, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and Alfonso Ortega, Villanova University. The team has significant complementary expertise and interest in energy efficient electronic systems and has collaborated successfully in the past on several studies in this field. The proposed Center’s team has amassed a vast infrastructure for conducting research in this area with academic and industrial partners. Meetings were held at Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York on December 1-2, 2010 with fifty one registrants representing Industry throughout the United States. Fifteen industries, representing the entire supply chain from hardware manufacturers and software developers to end users, had pre-committed to joining the center, including Bloomburg, Emerson Network Power, General Electric, and Corning. The NSF Planning Grant provided funding for the proposed Center Director, Staff Member, and nine Students to attend and participate in presentations and Poster Session. The Planning Grant Meeting addressed that E3S would focus on the development of systematic methodologies for operating electronic systems, including data centers, as dynamic self sensing and regulating systems that are predictive and verified in real time. Algorithms would be developed to control cooling resources and to assist expert system schedulers to schedule and/or migrate workload to achieve optimal energy consumption. Thermal management resources will also be allocated dynamically in response to system needs. This is, by nature, an intrinsically multi-disciplinary research area integrating software algorithms, control systems, thermal management and hardware. New models will have direct application to a variety of electronic/computing systems ranging all the way from the chip or device level to the system or data center level. Problem-oriented research related to Thermal Management and Protocols, Software Systems, Control Systems, and Implementation, would be addressed during the Center’s first five year program. E3S, in promoting significant reductions in energy consumption in electronic systems, will contribute to the national agenda of pursing transformative breakthroughs in technology that will help us meet our energy challenges. E3S will implement an effective data management plan that promotes the sharing of data generated by the Center with other researchers. These disseminated practices will strength the competitiveness of our nation’s industries in this sector. E3S will attract a diverse group of students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, by providing industrially-relevant training required by graduates entering the workforce. E3S is committed to attracting talented and motivated students from all groups, and will integrate a variety of mechanisms across the partners, including enhancement of existing minority pipeline programs to exceed participation by women (35%) and underrepresented students (20%). E3S will educate broad-based scientists and engineers to create new innovations in energy efficient systems to be transferred to industry. Students will have access to research data center facilities to conduct experimental measurements. E3S will engage industrial partners as center members on its Industrial Advisory Board and as intern hosts and will provide partners with a technology transfer mechanism for new E3S technologies. E3S will leverage existing programming on our campuses to engage K-12 students in conversations on energy conservation.
