Super Computer FUGAKU
About Super Computer
Supercomputers are generally known for a high level of performance as compared to the general-purpose computer. Performance of Super Computer is mainly measured in FLOPS (Floating Point Operations Per Second) instead of MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second). Supercomputers are generally falling under Peta Flops category means it is capable of calculating 1015 floating-point operations per second.
Why FUGAKU Super Computer in the news
FUGAKU supercomputer system is built and designed by Fujitsu and RIKEN which comes under the Exascale Flops category means it is capable of calculating 1018 floating-point operations per second.
The name FUGAKU is inspired by Japan’s highest Mount Everest Mount Fuji. They choose the name FUGAKU to have high computing performance and a wider range of applications like the high and wide base of mountain Fuji.
FUGAKU Supercomputer’s hardware development was started in 2014 and last year in April 2020 it started solving problems partially and in June 2020 it was declared the world’s fastest supercomputer.
On Tuesday 9 March 2021 news shared on a website, it is stated that it is fully operational and ready for use and has become the world’s fastest supercomputer in terms of Computational Speed, Industrial Use, Artificial Intelligence Application, and Big Data Analytics.
This Supercomputer is stored at the Riken Center for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan. Riken center is a large scientific research institute in which there are 3000 scientists are working on 7 campuses across Japan.
President of the Riken Research Institute that developed the machine, Hiroshi Matsumoto said, “I hope FUGAKU will be cherished by the people as it can do what its predecessor K could not, including artificial intelligence and big data analytics”. The K computer mainly focused on basic scientific data and simulations and modernized the Japanese supercomputer to be massively parallel.
Help to combat problems like Climate Changing, Novel Corona Virus, and other Artificial Intelligence problems
RIKEN, in coordination with the other ministry, announced that FUGAKU Supercomputer will be available on a research project aimed to solve current global problems. Some of the projects are –
Novel Corona Virus
People all over the world are suffering from this Pandemic and still many countries are researching the cause of this disease.
FUGAKU will be helpful to envisage how the droplets could transfer the virus spread from the mouth and to help explore possible treatment for COVID-19 and for developing a vaccine.
Climate Change
Climate change is another major issue all over the world. Human activity is the main cause behind this, continuously people are burning fossil fuels and transforming forests to farmlands, which produces CO2 gas in the air. It stays in the air for a very long time even up to centuries. Until fossil fuel combustion and the industrial process will not become zero, the global issue remains a major problem for us.
FUGKU supercomputer will work on Carbon Sequestration so that CO2 gas will be trapped underground and reduce the CO2 gas in the atmosphere. This indicates how difficult the challenge will be.
Prediction of Tsunami
Japan faced a Tsunami every year and too frequently due to this disaster Japan’s economy and development are almost 10 years back. The AI-based system in FUGAKU will be helpful to predict the Tsunami area, evacuate the people from the area, and insights on potential damage to the surrounding area.
SOCIETY 5.0
The final aim of the Japanese government is to make a society where all people live safe, comfortable, and peacefully. Society 5.0 describes as the “Super Smart Society, in which data are collected from the real world and processed by supercomputers and the final result will be applied to the real world.
