Error fixer: This prototype chip being tested at Intel Labs incorporates error-correction circuits that let it run at low voltages to save power.
Intel Labs
Chips that let errors happen, then correct them, use less power overall.
The smaller a silicon transistor becomes, the more electrons it leaks. That can mean unreliable, battery-draining chips. Researchers at Intel have come up with a way of dealing with the problem that subverts the industry's strong preference for precision. The company's prototype chip operates in a low-power but error-prone mode, but it detects and corrects its errors. This approach, researchers have found, saves 37 percent on power compared with running in conventional mode with no loss of performance.
One way to ensure better performance, even as transistors get smaller and leakier, is to operate them at a relatively high voltage all the time. Most microprocessors today are designed to run at a level that represents a kind of worst-case scenario, says Wen-Hann Wang, director of circuits and systems research at Intel and vice president of Intel Labs in Hillsboro, OR. But it's rare that a user is doing so many things at once--say, playing a graphics-rich game, uploading video to Facebook, and surfing the Web--that the microprocessor needs to be running in its highest range.
And the high-voltage, high-performance design strategy is becoming a problem for mobile devices, where battery life is important. One way to prolong battery life is to run the chip at a lower voltage, but this leads to errors.
"When a circuit operates at a low voltage, the system gets noisy," says Wang. Circuits running at low voltages are particularly vulnerable to variations in temperature, and to a phenomenon called "voltage droop": running a low level of electrical current through billions of transistors at the same time is like taking a shower while the washing machine and dishwasher are running. Just as this heavy water usage can cause a drop in water pressure, running many operations at low voltage can cause sudden drops in current through an individual transistor, and this can lead to errors. Another source of errors that becomes more of a problem at low voltages are inconsistencies that emerge as a chip ages.
These errors are rare, but significant. For example, they might lead an image to freeze as it's being rendered, forcing the user to restart the process. To cope with the errors that occur when running at low voltage, Intel is developing a strategy the company calls "resilient" circuits. "You don't know how things will vary, and in which circuits errors will happen," says Wang. "But if you don't worry about it, it will be okay most of the time."
A counterintuitive approach could yield smaller, faster, more energy-efficient chips.
A new kind of optical cable will provide ultrafast connections between electronic devices.
This article invoked memories of a course I took at MIT 48 years ago. The course was Information Theory, taught by Harry VanTrees, along with Robert Fano and John Wozencraft.
The essence of the course was that, as you try to transmit faster -- up to the capacity of the transmission channel -- you need to deal with errors. The higher the speed, the more errors that need to be corrected. Since correcting errors also requires use of the channel, there comes a point where you are getting the maximum possible throughput of useful information; beyond that point, increasing the rate requires an even greater use of the channel for correction.
What follows is pure speculation:
Perhaps there is an equally fundamental relationship between computing capacity and chip parameters (voltage, geometry size, etc) or maybe even more fundamental quantum measures.
Stupid ideas for stupid consumers
Instead of using a good idea (fault tolerance) to make a better product lets use it to create a cheaper and worse product that we can sell for more. It is guaranteed that at some point a solar event or a terrorist action is going to fry a majority of the circuits in a given area. Lets make sure that it is as wide spread of an impact as possible. How many (wo)man centuries are wasted every year needlessly due to ridiculous operating systems and poor circuitry ? If it wasn't for secret international monopoly techniques America's CPU market would have been supplanted long ago. Let's acquire a reputation for failure and greed so when another country breaks free it will have little to compete with.
Re: Stupid ideas for stupid consumers
Dude, have you checked your meds lately? Get help.
Re: Stupid ideas for stupid consumers
If your discourse is indicative of your intelligence and you are truly an exemplar of normalcy then I stand corrected. The subject line should have read "Stupid ideas for normal consumers".
INVENTORS - DO NOT TRUST INTEL!!!
INVENTORS - DO NOT TRUST INTEL
I invented a CPU cooler - 3 times better than best - better than water. Intel have major CPU cooling problems - "Intel's microprocessors were generating so much heat that they were melting" (iht.com) - try to talk to them - they send my communications to my competitor & will not talk to me.
Winners of major 'Corporate Social Responsibility' awardS!!!
Huh!!!!
When did RICO get repealed?"
INVENTORS - DO NOT TRUST INTEL!!!
BTW, I have the evidence - my competitor gave it to me.
BBTW, I am prepared to apologise to Intel if;
• They can show that the actions were those of a single individual within the company, but acting outside corporate policy, and:
• They gain redress on my behalf.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
This document is part of the “How-To Guide for Most Common Measurements” centralized resource portal. This tutorial provides a detailed guide for measurement and device considerations to take temperature measurements using thermocouples. Get an introduction to thermocouples, which are inexpensive sensing devices widely used with PC-based data acquisition systems. Also review some specific thermocouple examples and learn how thermocouples work and ways to integrate them into a data acquisition measurement system.
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Matthew Putman
37 Comments
Correcting is more important than Power
This is an excellent idea. It is much closer to neuro processing, where our brains run in a cool state, except when needed for more high level processing. I think this is bold and interesting.
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