Located in Rome, New York, the computer was completed in 2010 with a December 1 ribbon cutting. And while the “Condor Cluster” was not general purpose and did not replace other supercomputers, it worked well with the applications it was created for. At completion, the overall core cost was about $2 million, 5-10% of the cost of its equivalent according to Mark Barnell, AFRL Director of High Power Computing.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has marked the launch of its Condor PS3 Cluster with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony on December 1. You are now exiting an Army MWR NAF-funded website and linking to a commercial advertiser's website. To return to the MWR website, choose "Cancel." After the PlayStation 3 Cluster program shut down around 2015, many of the “Condor Cluster’s” consoles were either donated for use to those with smaller supercomputer clusters or sold off as old inventory. PlayStation 3 processors find an unlikely home in the Condor Cluster, a mega-computer built to undertake highly specific military tasks. It processed billions of pixels per minute (equivalent to 150 high-definition televisions combined), greatly reducing the time needed to analyze ultra-high-resolution images and had improved algorithms, allowing blurred flying objects to be more easily identified. Department of Defense, U.S. Army or federal government endorsement not implied. For more information regarding our policy on the use of third-party websites and applications, click here. If you see something that looks weird, please accept our apologies and report it here so we can take care of it, https://phys.org/news/2010-12-air-playstation-3s-supercomputer.html, https://defensesystems.com/Articles/2010/12/14/Condor-Cluster-Spreads-its-Wings.aspx, https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense/2011/01/air-force-builds-supercomputer-out-of-playstations/, https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/3/20984028/playstation-supercomputer-ps3-umass-dartmouth-astrophysics-25th-anniversary, https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/analysis/the-playstation-supercomputer/, https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-the-dods-playstation-powered-condor-cluster-means-for-the-future-of-supercomputing/, https://blog.ted.com/race-with-the-machines-erik-brynjolfsson-at-ted2013/, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Modern Day Slavery: The Horrors of Human Trafficking. The contents The computer’s engineers took advantage of the strengths of the PS3, deactivating unneeded features to optimize performance. Spouse Employment Resources Leslie Katz Dec. 14, 2010 4:23 p.m. PT We're taking you over to a different website and it may have a different privacy policy than ours. Which Major AI Companies Care Most About Your Privacy: Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook? third-party websites and applications, click here. Exchange, Privacy Policy For more information regarding our Linking Policy and Endorsement, click here. Before the program was shut down it became the 33rd most powerful supercomputer worldwide.
We've discussed Sony's decision to shut down Other OS functionality and abandon the supercomputing market, This site is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. A Cluster with 1760 PlayStation 3 for the US Army 2010/12/10 JeGX This cluster (localized at the Air Force Research Laboratory — New York), made up of 1760 Sony PlayStation 3 and codenamed the Condor Cluster , will allow very fast analysis of large high-resolution imagery (billions of … Accessibility/Section 508 And it also included 84 coordinating servers (for traffic direction within the system) and 168 separate graphical processing units. PLEASE NOTE: “I’ve used on the order of 300 Playstations so far. US Family and MWR Stars & Stripes This neuromorphic computing, which ran “learning” algorithms to teach it to read symbols, letters, words and sentences, theoretically meant that the computer could be instructed to read text and fill in gaps or rearrange material (in case of human error) on its own. And a few hundred were obtained by fans of the TV show Person of Interest, where the PlayStation 3 supercomputers made their silver screen debut in the Season 5 premiere. We’ve never once called it a game machine…With the PS3, our intentions have been to create a machine with supercomputer calculation capabilities for home entertainment.”. Ranked as the 33rd largest supercomputer in the world at the time, the "Condor Cluster" was built by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory using 1,760 Playstation 3s. At the time the project began, comparable technology was approximately $10,000 per unit while a PS3 console was selling for $400. The Air Force used it for such tasks as pattern recognition, satellite imagery processing and radar enhancement, along with its main task of artificial intelligence research. As an added advantage, it consumed approximately 10% of the energy of comparable supercomputers, making it far more energy efficient. Fort Gordon Garrison Website New to Fort Gordon, Contact Us Written by Jenifer Chrisman on August 20, 2020. As an added advantage, it consumed approximately 10% of the energy of comparable supercomputers, making it far more energy efficient. protecting your privacy and personal information, click here. You are now exiting an Army MWR NAF-funded website and linking to a commercial advertiser's website. Programs Such recovery of fragmentary documentation was invaluable to Air Force intelligence analysts. And a few hundred were obtained by fans of the TV show Person of Interest, where the PlayStation 3 supercomputers made their silver screen debut in the Season 5 premiere. Technical & Site Feedback Login, Armed Forces Resorts Even worse—why do condors look like Skeksis?
Before the program was shut down it became the 33rd most powerful supercomputer worldwide. “The PS3 is not a game machine.
ICE Nicknamed the “Condor Cluster,” the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) created a supercomputer with a core made of 1,760 Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles.
We just needed to let you know. Impressive results led to official approval for a larger cluster of 336 systems.
The Condor Cluster – US Air Force From gaming, to warfare Nicknamed the “Condor Cluster,” the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) created a supercomputer with a core made of 1,760 Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles. Absorbing approximately 20 pages per second, it had a 99.9% accuracy rate with 20-30% of the characters removed from each page. Search the TechTarget Network. Employee Resource Center
And it also included 84 coordinating servers (for traffic direction within the system) and 168 separate graphical processing units. And while the “Condor Cluster” was not general purpose and did not replace other supercomputers, it worked well with the applications it was created for. For more information about protecting your privacy and personal information, click here. The Air Force used it for such tasks as pattern recognition, satellite imagery processing and radar enhancement, along with its main task of artificial intelligence research. This large capacity supercomputer, made from the older, larger PS3s, which allowed a Linux operating system, could perform 500 trillion floating point operations per second (TFLOPS). Initially unveiled last year, the cluster is made up of 1,760 Sony PlayStation 3 processors and 168 general-purpose graphical processing units, providing an estimated 500 teraflops of performance. FOIA. Directory AFRL had a lot more resources, and set up a 300 PS3 cluster, which it soon expanded to 1,760 consoles. The computer’s engineers took advantage of the strengths of the PS3, deactivating unneeded features to optimize performance. The “Condor Cluster” was connected by over five miles of wire. https://phys.org/news/2010-12-air-playstation-3s-supercomputer.html, https://defensesystems.com/Articles/2010/12/14/Condor-Cluster-Spreads-its-Wings.aspx, https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense/2011/01/air-force-builds-supercomputer-out-of-playstations/, https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/3/20984028/playstation-supercomputer-ps3-umass-dartmouth-astrophysics-25th-anniversary, https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/analysis/the-playstation-supercomputer/, https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-the-dods-playstation-powered-condor-cluster-means-for-the-future-of-supercomputing/, https://blog.ted.com/race-with-the-machines-erik-brynjolfsson-at-ted2013/. Join CW+. Khanna is one of the few researchers allowed access to the Condor cluster. Payments are the views and opinion of the author and/or his. Due to a shift in Sony’s PS3 to a slimmer model, which didn’t have Linux capability, and then their move to the PS4 which didn’t easily connect to other PS4s to create a supercomputer, the PlayStation supercomputer era ended fairly quickly. G9 integrates and delivers Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs and services enabling readiness and resilience for a globally-responsive Army. After the PlayStation 3 Cluster program shut down around 2015, many of the “Condor Cluster’s” consoles were either donated for use to those with smaller supercomputer clusters or sold off as old inventory. Nicknamed the “Condor Cluster,” the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) created a supercomputer with a core made of 1,760 Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles.