Low-cost Graphics Processing Unit Research Articles

Real-time defect detection and classification on wood surfaces using deep learning

This paper proposes a novel method for automatic realtime defect detection and classification on wood surfaces. Our method uses deep convolutional neural network (CNN) based approach Faster R-CNN (Region-based CNN ) as detector and MobileNetV3 as backbone network for feature extraction. The key difference of our approach from the existing methods is that it detects knots and other type of defects efficiently and does the classification in real-time from the input video frames. Speed and accuracy is the main focus of our work. In the case of the industrial quality control and inspection such as defects detection, the task of detection and classification needs to be done in real-time on a computationally limited processing units or commodity processors. Our trained model is a light weight, and it can even be deployed on systems for example mobile and edge devices. We have pre-trained the MobileNet V3 on large image dataset for feature extraction. We use Faster R-CNN for detection and classification of defects. The system does the real-time detection and classification on an average of 37 frames per second from input video frames, using low cost and low memory GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). Our method has achieved an overall accuracy of 99% in detecting and classifying defects.

A GPU based virtual screening tool using SOM

This paper attempts to introduce the applicability of low cost graphics processing unit alternatives to a virtual screening technique using a novel self-organising map (SOM) based technique. This method combines the unsupervised learning capability of the SOM with a subsequent supervised labelling of the trained SOM neurons for building the prediction model. This novel iteration-based SOM technique can label molecule as undefined classes which can reduce the false positives in the screening. For running large datasets, the serial implementation of the proposed algorithm is very time-consuming and cannot be completed in a stipulated time frame. This has been overcome by exploiting the parallelism present in finding the winner neuron and neuron weight updating steps. A tool named SOMSCREEN is developed based on the proposed parallelised method to make the drug discovery process faster. It is observed that, the proposed method offers reduced false positive rate than the Random Forest based work.

FAST-FUSION: An Improved Accuracy Omnidirectional Visual Odometry System with Sensor Fusion and GPU Optimization for Embedded Low Cost Hardware

The main task while developing a mobile robot is to achieve accurate and robust navigation in a given environment. To achieve such a goal, the ability of the robot to localize itself is crucial. In outdoor, namely agricultural environments, this task becomes a real challenge because odometry is not always usable and global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) signals are blocked or significantly degraded. To answer this challenge, this work presents a solution for outdoor localization based on an omnidirectional visual odometry technique fused with a gyroscope and a low cost planar light detection and ranging (LIDAR), that is optimized to run in a low cost graphical processing unit (GPU). This solution, named FAST-FUSION, proposes to the scientific community three core contributions. The first contribution is an extension to the state-of-the-art monocular visual odometry (Libviso2) to work with omnidirectional cameras and single axis gyro to increase the system accuracy. The second contribution, it is an algorithm that considers low cost LIDAR data to estimate the motion scale and solve the limitations of monocular visual odometer systems. Finally, we propose an heterogeneous computing optimization that considers a Raspberry Pi GPU to improve the visual odometry runtime performance in low cost platforms. To test and evaluate FAST-FUSION, we created three open-source datasets in an outdoor environment. Results shows that FAST-FUSION is acceptable to run in real-time in low cost hardware and that outperforms the original Libviso2 approach in terms of time performance and motion estimation accuracy.

Efficient fingerprint matching using GPU

Graphical processing unit (GPU) has proven a beneficial tool in handling computationally intensive algorithms, by introducing massive parallelism in the calculations. In this study, an effective and low-cost fingerprint identification (FI) solution is proposed that can exploit the parallel computational power of GPU proficiently. It is achieved by mapping a generalised minutia neighbour-based novel encoding and matching algorithm on low-cost GPU technology. The proposed solution achieves high accuracy in comparison with two open source matchers and it is shown to be scalable by comparing matching performance on different GPUs. The proposed GPU implementation employs multithreading and loop unrolling, which minimises the use of nested loops and avoids sequential matching of encoded minutia features. After a thorough and careful designing of data structures, memory transfers and computations, a GPU-based fingerprint matching system is developed. It achieves on average 50,196 fingerprint matches per second on a single GPU. As compared to the sequential central processing unit implementation, the proposed system achieves a speed up of around 92 times, while maintaining the accuracy. The proposed system with matcher integrated on GPU can be considered as a good, low-cost, robust and efficient solution for large-scale applications of automated FI systems.

Compressed sensing MRI reconstruction from 3D multichannel data using GPUs.

To accelerate iterative reconstructions of compressed sensing (CS) MRI from 3D multichannel data using graphics processing units (GPUs). The sparsity of MRI signals and parallel array receivers can reduce the data acquisition requirements. However, iterative CS reconstructions from data acquired using an array system may take a significantly long time, especially for a large number of parallel channels. This paper presents an efficient method for CS-MRI reconstruction from 3D multichannel data using GPUs. In this method, CS reconstructions were simultaneously processed in a channel-by-channel fashion on the GPU, in which the computations of multiple-channel 3D-CS reconstructions are highly parallelized. The final image was then produced by a sum-of-squares method on the central processing unit. Implementation details including algorithm, data/memory management, and parallelization schemes are reported in the paper. Both simulated data and in vivo MRI array data were tested. The results showed that the proposed method can significantly improve the image reconstruction efficiency, typically shortening the runtime by a factor of 30. Using low-cost GPUs and an efficient algorithm allowed the 3D multislice compressive-sensing reconstruction to be performed in less than 1 s. The rapid reconstructions are expected to help bring high-dimensional, multichannel parallel CS MRI closer to clinical applications. Magn Reson Med 78:2265-2274, 2017. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Efficient implementation of constant pH molecular dynamics on modern graphics processors.

The treatment of pH sensitive ionization states for titratable residues in proteins is often omitted from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. While static charge models can answer many questions regarding protein conformational equilibrium and protein-ligand interactions, pH-sensitive phenomena such as acid-activated chaperones and amyloidogenic protein aggregation are inaccessible to such models. Constant pH molecular dynamics (CPHMD) coupled with the Generalized Born with a Simple sWitching function (GBSW) implicit solvent model provide an accurate framework for simulating pH sensitive processes in biological systems. Although this combination has demonstrated success in predicting pKa values of protein structures, and in exploring dynamics of ionizable side-chains, its speed has been an impediment to routine application. The recent availability of low-cost graphics processing unit (GPU) chipsets with thousands of processing cores, together with the implementation of the accurate GBSW implicit solvent model on those chipsets (Arthur and Brooks, J. Comput. Chem. 2016, 37, 927), provide an opportunity to improve the speed of CPHMD and ionization modeling greatly. Here, we present a first implementation of GPU-enabled CPHMD within the CHARMM-OpenMM simulation package interface. Depending on the system size and nonbonded force cutoff parameters, we find speed increases of between one and three orders of magnitude. Additionally, the algorithm scales better with system size than the CPU-based algorithm, thus allowing for larger systems to be modeled in a cost effective manner. We anticipate that the improved performance of this methodology will open the door for broad-spread application of CPHMD in its modeling pH-mediated biological processes. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

From global to local: exploring the relationship between parameters and behaviors in models of electrical excitability.

Models of electrical activity in excitable cells involve nonlinear interactions between many ionic currents. Changing parameters in these models can produce a variety of activity patterns with sometimes unexpected effects. Further more, introducing new currents will have different effects depending on the initial parameter set. In this study we combined global sampling of parameter space and local analysis of representative parameter sets in a pituitary cell model to understand the effects of adding K (+) conductances, which mediate some effects of hormone action on these cells. Global sampling ensured that the effects of introducing K (+) conductances were captured across a wide variety of contexts of model parameters. For each type of K (+) conductance we determined the types of behavioral transition that it evoked. Some transitions were counterintuitive, and may have been missed without the use of global sampling. In general, the wide range of transitions that occurred when the same current was applied to the model cell at different locations in parameter space highlight the challenge of making accurate model predictions in light of cell-to-cell heterogeneity. Finally, we used bifurcation analysis and fast/slow analysis to investigate why specific transitions occur in representative individual models. This approach relies on the use of a graphics processing unit (GPU) to quickly map parameter space to model behavior and identify parameter sets for further analysis. Acceleration with modern low-cost GPUs is particularly well suited to exploring the moderate-sized (5-20) parameter spaces of excitable cell and signaling models.

Accelerated Electromagnetic Field Simulation on Graphical Processing Unit by the Finite Difference Time Domain Method

This paper details about the implementation of the Finite Difference Time Domain Method (FDTD) on a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) and demonstrated the ability of low cost GPU’s to accelerate real life problems of interest in the Electromagnetic Field Simulation domain. Source code and the achieved results for a simple simulation problem implemented in C is presented. The same problem is then discussed by implementation using Nvidia’s software development platform CUDA. The methodology for implementation of some advanced FDTD simulation problems is also described, and the achieved results are presented using both, CUDA and MatLab R2011a. Finally, a comparative performance analysis of the FDTD implementation using CUDA for a 256x256x256 volume is described for 5000 time steps, by comparing the CPU implementation time with the GPU implementation time. This is a reasonably good example for judging the applicability of low cost GPU’s not just for Electromagnetic Simulation, but also for real time applications.

Feasibility Analysis of Low Cost Graphical Processing Units for Electromagnetic Field Simulations by Finite Difference Time Domain Method

Among several techniques available for solving Computational Electromagnetics (CEM) problems, the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method is one of the best suited approaches when a parallelized hardware platform is used. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of implementing the FDTD method using the NVIDIA GT 520, a low cost Graphical Processing Unit (GPU), for solving the differential form of Maxwell's equation in time domain. Initially a generalized benchmarking problem of bandwidth test and another benchmarking problem of 'matrix left division is discussed for understanding the correlation between the problem size and the performance on the CPU and the GPU respectively. This is further followed by the discussion of the FDTD method, again implemented on both, the CPU and the GT520 GPU. For both of the above comparisons, the CPU used is Intel E5300, a low cost dual core CPU.

Accelerating compartmental modeling on a graphical processing unit

Compartmental modeling is a widely used tool in neurophysiology but the detail and scope of such models is frequently limited by lack of computational resources. Here we implement compartmental modeling on low cost Graphical Processing Units (GPUs), which significantly increases simulation speed compared to NEURON. Testing two methods for solving the current diffusion equation system revealed which method is more useful for specific neuron morphologies. Regions of applicability were investigated using a range of simulations from a single membrane potential trace simulated in a simple fork morphology to multiple traces on multiple realistic cells. A runtime peak 150-fold faster than the CPU was achieved. This application can be used for statistical analysis and data fitting optimizations of compartmental models and may be used for simultaneously simulating large populations of neurons. Since GPUs are forging ahead and proving to be more cost-effective than CPUs, this may significantly decrease the cost of computation power and open new computational possibilities for laboratories with limited budgets.

Graphics processing unit-based dispersion encoded full-range frequency-domain optical coherence tomography

Dispersion encoded full-range (DEFR) frequency-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) and its enhanced version, fast DEFR, utilize dispersion mismatch between sample and reference arm to eliminate the ambiguity in OCT signals caused by non-complex valued spectral measurement, thereby numerically doubling the usable information content. By iteratively suppressing asymmetrically dispersed complex conjugate artifacts of OCT-signal pulses the complex valued signal can be recovered without additional measurements, thus doubling the spatial signal range to cover the full positive and negative sampling range. Previously the computational complexity and low processing speed limited application of DEFR to smaller amounts of data and did not allow for interactive operation at high resolution. We report a graphics processing unit (GPU)-based implementation of fast DEFR, which significantly improves reconstruction speed by a factor of more than 90 in respect to CPU-based processing and thereby overcomes these limitations. Implemented on a commercial low-cost GPU, a display line rate of ∼21,000 depth scans/s for 2048 samples/depth scan using 10 iterations of the fast DEFR algorithm has been achieved, sufficient for real-time visualization in situ.

Accelerating parallel particle swarm optimization via GPU

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population-based stochastic and derivative-free method that has been used to solve various optimization problems due to its simplicity and efficiency. While solving high-dimensional or complicated problems, PSO requires a large number of particles to explore the problem domains and consequently introduces high computational costs. In this paper, we focus on the acceleration of PSO for solving box-constrained, load-balanced optimization problems by parallelization on a graphics processing unit (GPU). We propose a GPU-accelerated PSO (GPSO) algorithm by using a thread pool model and implement GPSO on a GPU. Numerical results show that the GPU architecture fits the PSO framework well by reducing computational timing, achieving high parallel efficiency and finding better optimal solutions by using a large number of particles. For example, while solving the 100-dimensional test problems with 65,536 (16×212) particles, GPSO has achieved up to 280X and 83X speedups on a NVIDIA Tesla C1060 1.30 GHz GPU relative to an Intel Xeon-X5450 3.00 GHz central processing unit running in single- and quad-core mode, respectively. GPSO provides a promising method for tackling high-dimensional and difficult optimization problems using a low-cost and many-core GPU system.

High throughput transmission optical projection tomography using low cost graphics processing unit

We implement the use of a graphics processing unit (GPU) in order to achieve real time data processing for high-throughput transmission optical projection tomography imaging. By implementing the GPU we have obtained a 300 fold performance enhancement in comparison to a CPU workstation implementation. This enables to obtain on-the-fly reconstructions enabling for high throughput imaging.

Parallel computing with graphics processing units for high-speed Monte Carlo simulation of photon migration

General-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is shown to dramatically increase the speed of Monte Carlo simulations of photon migration. In a standard simulation of time-resolved photon migration in a semi-infinite geometry, the proposed methodology executed on a low-cost graphics processing unit (GPU) is a factor 1000 faster than simulation performed on a single standard processor. In addition, we address important technical aspects of GPU-based simulations of photon migration. The technique is expected to become a standard method in Monte Carlo simulations of photon migration.

High-throughput sequence alignment using Graphics Processing Units

BackgroundThe recent availability of new, less expensive high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies has yielded a dramatic increase in the volume of sequence data that must be analyzed. These data are being generated for several purposes, including genotyping, genome resequencing, metagenomics, and de novo genome assembly projects. Sequence alignment programs such as MUMmer have proven essential for analysis of these data, but researchers will need ever faster, high-throughput alignment tools running on inexpensive hardware to keep up with new sequence technologies.ResultsThis paper describes MUMmerGPU, an open-source high-throughput parallel pairwise local sequence alignment program that runs on commodity Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in common workstations. MUMmerGPU uses the new Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) from nVidia to align multiple query sequences against a single reference sequence stored as a suffix tree. By processing the queries in parallel on the highly parallel graphics card, MUMmerGPU achieves more than a 10-fold speedup over a serial CPU version of the sequence alignment kernel, and outperforms the exact alignment component of MUMmer on a high end CPU by 3.5-fold in total application time when aligning reads from recent sequencing projects using Solexa/Illumina, 454, and Sanger sequencing technologies.ConclusionMUMmerGPU is a low cost, ultra-fast sequence alignment program designed to handle the increasing volume of data produced by new, high-throughput sequencing technologies. MUMmerGPU demonstrates that even memory-intensive applications can run significantly faster on the relatively low-cost GPU than on the CPU.