Desktop grids: Connecting everyone to science
(This is a summary of the latest e-ScienceBriefing)
Today’s personal computers are powerful. In fact every PC today is over 100 times more powerful than the Cray-1 machine that designed the stealth bomber in the 1970s. But, most of the time, a lot of their computational capacity goes to waste.
Desktop grids can make use of this unused computational power. With more than one billion desktop computers in use, desktop grids can offer a low cost, readily available scientific resource.
“We are actually sitting on a huge source of computational power that is largely left unused in numbers of universities, research institutes, companies, home offices and households,” said Leslie Versweyveld of the International Desktop Grid Federation (IDGF). “It is already there, we only need to tap into it, technically gain access to it and transform this enormous resource of computational power to fuel e-science research in all possible areas.”
Protein folding, clean water, climate change
Today, researchers are already using desktop grids to simulate protein folding (Folding@home), find ways to provide clean water (IBM’s World Community Grid), and model climate change (Climateprediction.net). Scientific problems that can be split up into small tasks and sent to different computers for computation are perfect for solving with desktop grids. These projects farm out tasks to computers located across the globe which send the results back to researchers once they are complete.
Desktop grids provide a useful complement to the range of facilities already available in the e-infrastructure landscape. While supercomputers are able to solve a wide variety of complex computational problems they are expensive and are limited to a relatively small number of researchers.
Cluster-based grids can provide a cheaper solution, but for a more limited set of applications. Assuming the computers making up a desktop grid are already paid for, they can open up computational research to more scientists at an even lower cost.
Connecting desktop grids to larger infrastructure
Today EDGI (the European Desktop Grid Initiative) is working to connect desktop grids into the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI). Collaborations between a number of infrastructure providers, such as those established through the IDGF are helping to integrate resources. On the international scale the DEGISCO project aims to export and share desktop grid knowledge outside of the EU, while policy bodies such as e-IRG are preparing the setup of the legal and political frameworks.
However, unlike supercomputers or cluster-based grids, desktop grids have an extra component that needs to be managed – their volunteers. Using volunteers to donate computing time forms the basis of all volunteer desktop grids, and can create positive links between citizens and science. For example, when the project Einstein@Home found a new pulsar (a rotating neutron star) its discovery wasn’t credited to astronomers, but to the volunteers whose computers made the crucial calculations.
“In my view, the most revolutionary aspect of volunteer computing is the public participation,” says Francois Grey of the Citizen Cyberscience Centre at CERN which helps scientists in developing countries access the power of Internet-based volunteer networks.“Far from being passive, many participants turn volunteer computing into a serious hobby. Some contribute to debugging the software, others help newcomers in the forums, still others set up teams and events to encourage more participation.'
"I predict that ultimately, this will lead to public involvement in setting the agenda for the research that is carried out using public resources. Just as has already happened for journalism on the web, the distinction between amateur and professional will start to blur,” he said. (Read more: Citizens vs. geniuses)
While desktop grids offer a number of different benefits, their use raises challenges too. The distributed nature of a desktop grid makes it difficult to test and fix applications. They are also subject to the local ICT policies at the institute or organisation that is hosting the donated computer. For example, if a company chooses to switch off computers at night, there are fewer resources available for science.
Are desktop grids the 'green solution'?
Desktop grids are often touted as a ‘green solution’ as they use computing resources already in existence. However, in reality, determining whether a desktop grid is green, or not, is complex. How volunteers choose to donate their computing time plays a big part in this – adding on a CPU load to a machine running at a low capacity doesn’t cost much energy, but using a computer that would otherwise be switched off does. Even the country a machine is running in can make a real difference.
And, as we look towards a future where increasing numbers of people access the Internet through technologies such as mobile phones instead of PCs, the desktop grid concept as it currently stands may need to evolve.
But, for now, desktop grids are still playing their part in bringing science and society together. "[I share] my computing resources to help solve tomorrow’s challenges and be more involved in scientific progress and our future,” said Morgan Duarte, a desktop grid volunteer.
“I believe it is an efficient way to use our continuously increasing computers’ power without affecting my own personal use. For me, volunteering my computer for science is very rewarding.”
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