Tsunami and Storm Surge Simulation Using Low Power Architectures - Concept and Evaluation
Dominik Schoenwetter, Alexander Ditter, Bruno Kleinert, Arne Hendricks, Vadym Aizinger, Harald Koestler, Dietmar Fey · 2015
Performing a tsunami or storm surge simulation in real time is a highly challenging research topic that calls for a collaboration between mathematicians and computer scientists. One must combine mathematical models with numerical methods and rely on computational performance and code parallelization to produce accurate simulation results as fast as possible. The traditional modeling approaches require a lot of computing power and significant amounts of electrical energy; they are also highly dependent on uninterrupted access to a reliable power supply. This paper presents a concept how to develop suitable low power hardware architectures for tsunami and storm surge simulations based on cooperative software and hardware simulation. The main goal is to be able - if necessary - to perform simulations in-situ and battery-powered. For flood warning systems installed in regions with weak or unreliable power and computing infrastructure, this would significantly decrease the risk of failure at the most critical moments.