Adaptation of MPDATA Heterogeneous Stencil Computation to Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor

Abstract EN

The multidimensional positive definite advection transport algorithm (MPDATA) belongs to the group of nonoscillatory forward-in-time algorithms and performs a sequence of stencil computations.

MPDATA is one of the major parts of the dynamic core of the EULAG geophysical model.

In this work, we outline an approach to adaptation of the 3D MPDATA algorithm to the Intel MIC architecture.

In order to utilize available computing resources, we propose the (3 + 1)D decomposition of MPDATA heterogeneous stencil computations.

This approach is based on combination of the loop tiling and fusion techniques.

It allows us to ease memory/communication bounds and better exploit the theoretical floating point efficiency of target computing platforms.

An important method of improving the efficiency of the (3 + 1)D decomposition is partitioning of available cores/threads into work teams.

It permits for reducing inter-cache communication overheads.

This method also increases opportunities for the efficient distribution of MPDATA computation onto available resources of the Intel MIC architecture, as well as Intel CPUs.

We discuss preliminary performance results obtained on two hybrid platforms, containing two CPUs and Intel Xeon Phi.

The top-of-the-line Intel Xeon Phi 7120P gives the best performance results, and executes MPDATA almost 2 times faster than two Intel Xeon E5-2697v2 CPUs.