C-DAC synergises R&D strategizes to accelerate technology revolution

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30 March 2019, Pune : The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to hosts two days Technology Conclave on 4th and 5th April 2019 at Pune in the emerging areas of Advanced Computingwith major thrust on Exascale Computing, Microprocessor and Quantum Computing, AI & Language Computing, IoE and Dependable and Secure Computing and Next Generation Applied Computing.

Dr Hemant Darbari, Director General said “C-DAC with its focus in Advanced Computing is uniquely positioned to establish dependable and secure Exascale Ecosystem offering services in various domains. As our nation embarks upon its most revolutionary phase of Digital Transformation, C-DAC has committed itself to explore and engage in the avant-garde visionary areas excelling beyond in the present areas of research transforming human lives through technological advancement”

Eminent experts of international repute from MeitY, Niti Ayog, C-DAC, DRDO, IISc, IIT, AIIMS, research labs and industry like FICCI, Intel, Nvidia, Atos, Mellanox, NetApp, DDN willdeliberate on the focussed research areas and provide deep insights through their synergetic ideas. Association with the industries and start-ups through collaborative innovation model is targeted for carving out implementable development solution strategies for India’s specific problems. Demonstration of technologies and applications will be showcased atexhibits.

C-DAC as one of the implementing agencies of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) is involved in developing indigenous HPC technologies, products and solutions, Application development, R&D, Human Resource Development leading to self-reliance in the long run. On the Exascale application front, C-DAC is engaged in multiple scientific and engineering domains like Weather Prediction, Computational Biology, Molecular Dynamics, Aerospace Engineering, Seismic Analysis, Nano Science, Astrophysics, Financial Simulations, Big Data Analytics to name a few. Key elements of Exascale Computing include HPC Systems Design, HPC interconnect & network design, HPC System Software & Middleware, devising special purpose computing and addressing challenges pertaining to power consumption and reliability.

C-DAC is executing the microprocessor development programme with 64-bit quad core out of order processor operating at 2.0GHz as the target specification with the aim to create a fully indigenous microprocessor, along with full ecosystem. C-DAC with its expertise is designing and implementing a series of microprocessors, ecosystem and the associated IP along with the SoCs targeting various application domains. Requirements of stakeholders in strategic areas of Government, Industry and User Organizations are taken into considerations. C-DAC shall also setup a dedicated resource centre making available full ecosystem to the product designer community and academic institutions. C-DAC is focusing its efforts towards development of range of processors for varied use cases such as ILP Class for image processing, I-Class for smart energy meters, R-Class for AI/ML, A-Class for secure router, M-Class for strategic applications and HP-Class for high performance applications. Quantum

Computing is gaining traction and advancements in materials science and computer science is enabling the same towards reality. This could have huge impact for bio-informatics, strategic sector, AI and in addressing various grand challenge problems. Key activities include development of a state-of-the-art tool kit and appropriate environment to enable/encourage developers to design, develop and validate quantum-ware using relevant Quantum Technology.

Language Computing is the most key aspect to realize the Digital India Vision of India. C-DAC has been pursuing pioneering research in Language Technology dissolving thelanguage barriers. Use of natural language processing systems is required for developing Multilingual Systems to realize and present the same information in a variety of languages.Application of Machine Learning for Natural Language Processing, machine translation and accurate information extraction and retrieval are promising. In the context of Indian needsthis shall be applied for various Indian Languages. Devising Domain specific solutions for various domains and bounding the learning accordingly ensures very high-quality Multi- lingual solutions. Advanced methods of AI come handy to address Speech Processing. Text-to- Speech Synthesis, Voice Biometry, Summarization Techniques and Semantic Analysisare some example areas being addressed.

In the realm of AI, C-DAC’s activities envisaged can be broadly categorized into National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) based Big Data Analytics with Machine Learning, Chatbots/personal assistant in Indian Languages with domain specificity, ICT solutions for societal applications, Linguistic and NLP resource creation for 22 major Indian languages including transfer lexicon, speech corpora, annotated discourses, heritage computing and digital preservation. AI based Analytics solutions for areas like Education, Agriculture, Finance, and Healthcare are in pipeline.

C-DAC has devised the Comprehensive Cyber security Strategy through a three-pronged approach involving, innovative defence mechanisms, novel deterrence methods and effective response & recovery. Specific R&D in Cyber Security focuses on futuristic high-impact areas addressing core research Challenges in security across wide spectrum ofcompute, communication & storage involving Malware analysis & End-systems, IoT, SCADA, Cloud & Virtualization, Threat Analysis, Digital Forensics, Steganography, High-speedpacket processing, Hardware security, Cryptographic algorithms and post quantum cryptography. On the Blockchain front, C-DAC shall facilitate Blockchain Technology platform development by customizing the existing platform to meet the requirements of specific application domains such as e-Governance, Financial sector, tourism, energy and StrategicSector.

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud/Virtualization, Bigdata analytics is radically changing the present-day application development. C-DAC is engaged in developing more intuitive, usable and decision-oriented features to get embedded in applications of various domains. GenNext Applications for various sectors like Smart cities, Health Informatics, Agriculture, Education, Energy, Banking & Finance, Strategic sector and e-Governance shall leverage capabilities from Geographic Information System, Decision Support System, Image processing, Blockchain, AI/ML/DL and effective & intuitive visualization and User Interface. Towards Interoperability and seamless integration, depending on application context and domains, implementation of specific standards is required to be incorporated according to the respective domains.