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SpiNNaker Project - Boards and Machines.


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SpiNNaker machines are classified by the the (approximate) number of processor cores, thus the 10N machine has approximately 10^N processor cores. The 102 and 103 machines are single printed circuit boards, already available or in the final stages of design. The larger machines are racks or cabinets and specifications are subject to change.

102 machine
Boards/machines The 102 machine is the 4-node circuit board and hence has 72 ARM processor cores, which will typically be deployed as 64 application cores, 4 Monitor Processors and 4 spare cores. The 102 machine requires a 5V 1A supply, and can be powered from some USB2 ports. The control and I/O interface is a single 100Mbps Ethernet connection. There is limited provision for connecting cards together with SpiNNaker links to form larger systems.

103 machine
The 103 machine is the 48-node board and has 864 ARM processor cores, typically deployed as 768 application cores, 48 Monitor Processors and 48 spare cores. The 103 machine requires a 12V 6A supply. The control interface is two 100Mbps Ethernet connections, one for the Board Management Processor and the second for the SpiNNaker array. There are options to use the six on-board 3.1Gbps high-speed serial interfaces (using SATA cables, but not necessarily the SATA protocol) for I/O; this will require suitable configuration of the on-board FPGAs that provide the high-speed serial interface support. 103 boards can be connected together to form larger systems using the high-speed serial interfaces. This is the basis for the construction of the larger machines described below.

104 machine
Boards/machines The 104 machine will be a single card frame incorporating 12 48-node cards. It will have 10,368 ARM processor cores, typically deployed as 9,216 application processors, 216 Monitor Processors and 216 spares. The 104 machine will be the largest portable SpiNNaker machine and is intended to operate in a desk-top environment from a standard mains supply. The card frame will incorporate a ~1kW power supply for the SpiNNaker cards and a 24-way 100Mbps Ethernet switch to offer a 1Gbps Ethernet interface to the host machine. The machine will include fan cooling for the power supply, the SpiNNaker boards and the Ethernet switch. Three of the six SATA interfaces on each board are used to interconnect the boards into a toroidal mesh. The remaining three per board are available for high-speed I/O, which will require suitable configuration of the on-board FPGAs.

105 machine
The 105 machine will be a 19" rack cabinet incorporating 5 card frames each with 24 48-node cards. It will have 103,680 ARM processor cores, typically deployed as 92,160 application processors, 2,160 Monitor Processors and 2,160 spares. This machine will require a 10kW (approx.) 240V supply and an air-conditioned environment. The control and I/O interfaces are to be defined.
106 machine
The 106 machine will comprise 10 19" rack cabinets each similar to the 105 machine. It will have 1,036,800 ARM processor cores, typically deployed as 921,600 application processors, 21,600 Monitor Processors and 21,600 spares. This machine will require a 100kW (approx.) 240V supply and an air-conditioned environment. The control and I/O interfaces are to be defined.