A glimpse of the "Galaxy" opened the supercomputing to create the "Tianhe"

Lu Yutong (first from right) and Tianhe-2.

"China's supercomputing from following, catching up to surpassing, let Westerners know that hard-working and intelligent Chinese can also do a good job in the world's cutting-edge technology." Lu Yutong, director of the National Supercomputing Center in Guangzhou, was very proud when she talked about her two or three things about China's supercomputing.

She is a professor at the School of Data Science and Computer Science of Sun Yat-sen University, the director of the National Supercomputing Guangzhou Center, the deputy chief designer of Tianhe-2, a member of the special expert group of high-performance computing of the National Key Research and Development Program, and the world's first female ISC Fellow... How did such an excellent female scientist start the story of supercomputing? It all starts with that first "glimpse"...

01 Initially bonded

Visiting "Galaxy One" as a child sows the "seeds" of supercomputing

"My parents are both university teachers, and the learning atmosphere at home is very strong, and I especially like to read science fiction books." Lu Yutong, who was born in a family of scholars, visited "Galaxy One" in her freshman year of high school, and the behemoth deeply fascinated Lu Yutong, and she still remembers it deeply: "It is as large as a small conference room, and its surface is densely covered with wires."

Unintentionally planting willows, a visit allowed her to spontaneously deepen her understanding of supercomputers, and thus learned about the important strategic role of supercomputers in national and regional security, scientific breakthroughs and economic development, and planted "scientific research seeds" in her small careful fields. Lu Yutong described the professional choice of the college entrance examination volunteer as if it was "a natural success", and she did not hesitate to fill in the Computer College of the National University of Defense Technology.

What really made her associate with "supersurgon" was the undergraduate graduation design, when her teacher was responsible for the development of the "Galaxy II" compiler. Lu Yutong followed his mentor to carry out software testing and verification of the "Galaxy II" related system, starting from "Galaxy II", and successively participated in the development of the five generations of Galaxy and two generations of Tianhe. She proudly said: "From the very beginning of compiler development to the deputy chief designer of 'Tianhe-2', I have personally experienced the process of Chinese supercomputing from following, catching up to surpassing."

02 Innovative breakthroughs

Won the championship for six consecutive times standing in the forest of world supercomputing

"Initially, only giant companies in the United States, Japan and other countries had high-speed interconnection research and development capabilities, while China faced a series of technical blockades." Lu Yutong served as the deputy chief designer of the "Tianhe-2" supercomputer system, facing the layers of problems of breakthrough.

In the entire supercomputing system, Lu Yutong is mainly responsible for the design of communication protocols and parallel environments in the interconnection network, she proposed a parallel user-level communication technology based on virtual port streamlining communication protocol, and realized the performance of the "Tianhe" high-speed self-customized interconnection software system to reach 2 times that of the fastest commercial interconnect system in the same period in the world.

Under the hard work of Lu Yutong and the team, the "Tianhe-2" supercomputer won the world's top 500 supercomputer ranking (TOP500) for six consecutive times from June 2013 to May 2016, breaking the monopoly of the United States and Japan on the world's top supercomputer.

Currently, E-class supercomputing is seen as "the next crown of the supercomputer community" and will play a huge role in solving major problems such as energy crisis, pollution and climate change in the future. In the face of this global must-compete place, Lu Yutong put forward the idea of win-win cooperation, she said: "Although China's supercomputing technology is temporarily in a leading position, but if you want to make further breakthroughs, it is indispensable for international cooperation and collaborative design in the development of global supercomputing." She actively uses her voice in the field of international supercomputing and establishes a foundation of friendly cooperation in the early stage, and is committed to making the national supercomputing Guangzhou Center a bridgehead for China's supercomputing docking world.

Nowadays, the National Supercomputing Guangzhou Center has established close cooperative relations with the supercomputing centers and scientific research institutions of dozens of countries such as the United States, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, and the world-renowned supercomputing centers such as the Stuttgart National Supercomputing Center in Germany and the Harcoon National Supercomputing Center in the United Kingdom have become partners with the National Supercomputing Guangzhou Center, HPCAsia, IHPCF and a number of internationally renowned supercomputing conferences can be held in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, and the world's top supercomputing experts have held lectures and carried out project cooperation in the National Supercomputing Guangzhou Center.

03 Use it for the people

The user base has exceeded 300,000 so that supercomputing applications cover the Greater Bay Area

"Supercomputing technology itself is the result of scientific and technological innovation, but at the same time it is also the core of supporting other scientific and technological innovations." After the fruitful research of supercomputer systems, in 2016, Lu Yutong became the director of the National Supercomputing Guangzhou Center, shifting the focus of research from supercomputing system development to supercomputing applications.

In the end, the development of science and technology must be able to realize application and use it for the people. She said: "How to apply supercomputers to achieve world-class scientific research, engineering and industrial application results is the biggest challenge facing the development of supercomputing in China."

Guangzhou's regional short-term weather forecast has reached the first domestic and international leading level without the cooperation of "Tianhe-2". "The center has cooperated with the Guangzhou Meteorological Bureau to build a 3-kilometer and 1-kilometer resolution meteorological forecast system based on 'Tianhe-2', and has been operating 24 hours a day since 2017." Lu Yutong introduced this set of high-resolution short-term numerical weather prediction business system. On the "Tianhe-2", every 12 minutes, it can complete a weather forecast for the next 6 hours in Guangzhou, which is running well, greatly shortening the forecast time and improving the forecast accuracy.

In July 2018, Guangzhou Supercomputing Center, together with Hong Kong Chinese University, Sun Yat-sen University and nine other universities initiated the establishment of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Supercomputing Alliance, aiming to bring together Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao supercomputing scientific research and application institutions, drive the development of innovative supercomputing applications, cultivate high-level supercomputing software development and application talents, deepen supercomputing application exchanges and cooperative research in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, enhance the level and level of regional cooperation and collaborative innovation, and accelerate the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao International Science and Technology Innovation Center.

At present, the National Supercomputing Guangzhou Center has supported the research and development of thousands of national and local key topics, serving more than 4,500 users and more than 300,000 user groups, covering 34 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country, making the National Supercomputing Guangzhou Center one of the supercomputing centers with the highest system utilization rate, the largest number of users and the widest application field in the world.

Source: South+

How to apply supercomputers to achieve world-class scientific research, engineering and industrial application results is the biggest challenge facing the development of Supercomputing in China.

From following, catching up to surpassing, Chinese supercomputing let Westerners know that hard-working and intelligent Chinese can also do a good job in the world's cutting-edge technology.

Lu Yutong

Written by: Nanfang Daily reporter Shang Liyang trainee reporter Ma Ruijie Correspondent Zeng Guimin Courtesy of the interviewee