Note of fun - the simulation is surprisingly robust to a large empty cube suddenly appearing in the center of the planet.

Frontera Proposal

Strong scaling test is done for 8-128 nodes. It looks like the proposal should be a single document, so I've combined the scaling document and the previous supplement main document. Still needs a little work, but I'll try to send it around by end of day for review.

One sticking point: the steady-state run is about 12 times faster than the current state of the simulation. How to best request the appropriate number of hours? Pathways allocations are meant to help with scaling up to make better use of Frontera (see description below) - perhaps frame single run as test case for larger request that combines both charge exchange and radiation pressure (and B fields?)? And possibly profiling time? Would still like to see if the line transfer can be improved.

Pathways

Experience suggests that not all user teams can seamlessly make the transition from more general-use resources, such as Stampede2, to a system that emphasizes larger scale computing. It is here that latent scaling bugs (such as race conditions, hard-coded array bounds, and so on) are often encountered for the first time. The “Pathways” allocations track is for projects that believe they are ready to begin scaling up, but have not yet fully tested their applications at scale. Less stringent scaling data will need to be provided to receive a pathways allocation, and the total award size will be smaller, with a focus on preparing to reach the LRAC scale.

Here's the statement of requirements, for reference:

Proposal Format

LRAC, Pathways, and LSCP Submissions Requests

When writing your LRAC request, be clear and concise. We strive to have domain experts review every request, but they may not have deep expertise in your specific subdomain. Someone outside of your area should be able to understand the scientific objectives and understand why the chosen technique is preferred over another.

Renewal requests require less documentation, as described later (jump link to section).

The documents required of a new LRAC request ensures reviewers can effectively determine how each request satisfies the Frontera allocation Review Criteria. LRAC requests are limited to 10 pages.

Research requests must include a well-documented resource-use plan that describes how the requested allocations are necessary and sufficient to accomplish the project’s research objectives. An effective resource-use plan must address the Frontera allocation Review Criteria and, in particular, must include the following elements:

Scientific Background Research Objectives and specific questions to be pursued Resource Usage Plan to achieve the research objectives Justification of the allocation amounts for all resources and resource types Access to other CI resources and why those resources are not available or sufficient for the work proposed in this request

Scientific Background and Support

Succinctly state the scientific objectives that will be facilitated by the allocation. The existing merit-reviewed supporting grants should be listed and briefly described; please include the end date for each grant listed. Requests with merit-reviewed supporting grants will not be subject to further scientific review by the LRAC; however, the stated scientific objectives must match or be sub-goals of those described in the listed funding award(s). The description of the objectives should be sufficient to allow the reviewers to assess the resource usage plan.

Research Questions

Identify the specific research questions that are covered by the allocation request. Within the context of the scientific background and supporting grants, these objectives and questions should be stated so that the reviewers can understand how elements of the resource plan will contribute to relevant answers. If you consider the allocation request in terms of computational experiments, the research objectives and questions define the experiments to be conducted.

Resource Usage Plan

The bulk of the document should focus on the resource usage plan and allocation request. Inadequate justification for requested resources is the primary reason for most reduced or denied allocations. Once again, the PI should keep in mind the Frontera allocation Review Criteria when describing and justifying the choice of resources and allocation amounts.

Justifying Allocation Amounts

This section should contain code performance timings, resource usage details, and scaling information to support the calculation of the resource request. Ideally, the code performance data should be provided from benchmark runs on the resource requested, using the model configuration(s) needed for the computational plan proposed and demonstrating the scaling efficiency to the job size(s) planned. If applicable, the panel may accept well-justified performance data from architecturally equivalent systems. PI’s should contact the Frontera Allocations Coordinator to obtain a small allocation for benchmarking or to discuss non-Frontera performance data to be used in their submission.

The justification of allocation should take the quantitative parameters from the resource usage plan and combine them with benchmark cost information to calculate the allocation needed. Where possible for computational experiments, the justification should tabulate and calculate the costs of conducting each experiment for each resource and resource type.

Disclosure of Access to Other Compute Resources

Because of the high demand for NSF-funded resources, Frontera and the LRAC closely consider whether the PI has access to other, less constrained resources on which the proposed work could be conducted. All PIs must describe their local resources and other non-Frontera resources available to them, including both local and other national resources.

Page limit: 10 pages

References

[Note: probably unnecessary]

A PI may use this OPTIONAL document to separate a lengthy bibliography of cited work to take full advantage of the page limits in the Main Document. This bibliography is not the publications resulting from prior Frontera support, which should be entered into the Frontera publications database, but rather other citations referenced in describing or supporting the intellectual merit of the proposed work or the appropriateness of the proposed approach for addressing the research objectives.

Page limit: No limit.

Document Formatting

While readability is of greatest importance, documents must satisfy the following minimum requirements. Documents that conform to NSF proposal format guidelines will satisfy these guidelines.

Margins: Documents must have 2.5-cm (1-inch) margins at the top, bottom, and sides. Fonts and Spacing: The type size used throughout the documents must conform to the following three requirements:

Use one of the following typefaces identified below:

Arial 11, Courier New, or Palatino Linotype at a font size of 10 points or larger; Times New Roman at a font size of 11 points or larger; or Computer Modern family of fonts at a font size of 11 points or larger.

A font size of less than 10 points may be used for mathematical formulas or equations, figures, table or diagram captions and when using a Symbol font to insert Greek letters or special characters. PIs are cautioned, however, that the text must still be readable.

Page Numbering: Page numbers should be included by the submitter.