ITE 2001 - CAO

DIGITAL ASSIGNMENT -1
THARUN KUMAR G. 29/09/2021
20BIT0426 F1+TF1 SLOT

1. Super Computer and its Role in weather forecasting. In India where

supercomputers are used to forecast weather and how?

Introduction:
Supercomputing is powerful and is utilised primarily in the science, research
and business sectors. ESS Weathertech (ESS) has been specialising in the
supply of supercomputing systems for more than 10 years now through
different projects that stretch internationally to countries including Nepal,
Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

In this article, we will discuss the mechanics of supercomputing and its

contribution to forecasting systems worldwide.

Supercomputers and forecasting

For weather forecasting, and before the supercomputer processes data, the
data needs to be obtained from somewhere. Devices such as radar, weather
stations, satellite images, profilers, and other sensors measure different
atmospheric parameters, collect data and send the data to a central database
for storage (e.g. NAS – Network Attached Storage) that can then be used by
the supercomputer. After that, they are sent to an archive for long term
storage.

Installed on the hardware is software to process, analyse, and visualise the

incoming data. This ranges from the basics of the Operating Software (e.g.
Linux) to GNU compilers (e.g. Python, C++…), math, and data libraries (e.g.
MATLAB, NetCDF4) to visualisation software like the Grid Analysis Display
System (GrADS).

Figure 2. Visualisation of global model topography using GrADS over Nepal

domain
Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP)
NWP utilises supercomputing to calculate the equations that define the flow of
fluids in the atmosphere and oceans. The supercomputer implements the
method of NWP by translating the governing equations of dynamical
meteorology, numerical methods, parameterized physical processes, and initial
and boundary conditions into computer code which is then analysed and
determined over a specific geographic domain (e.g. Nepal in Figure 2.).
Figure 3. depicts a simple flow chart of the essentials a modelling system (e.g.
Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model) would potentially progress
through. NOTE: Figure 3. is one example data route of a much larger flow
chart.

Firstly, data is collected from an external source – this may be observational

data collected by a weather bureau (via satellite, radiosondes, weather
stations, radar etc.) or this could be model data. This data is then put through
pre-processing such as data assimilation. Data assimilation is a processing
technique to estimate the optimal state of the evolving weather system by
combining observational and numerical model data. Secondly, the data is run
through the model calculations. Finally, the data is post-processed and
visualised by software such as GrADS.

Furthermore, methods of NWP such as ensemble forecasting is used to

improve current modelling techniques by producing more reliable and
accurate forecasts. This is done by comparing various NWP forecasts and
combining multiple models runs through statistical and graphical methods to
reduce the level of uncertainty of the model outcomes and increase
confidence in the accuracy of the final output.
Figure 4. Ensemble modelling example**
SUPER COMPUTERS IN INDIA:

Pratyush and Mihir are the supercomputers established at Indian Institute of

Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and National Centre for Medium Range
Weather Forecast (NCMRWF), Noida respectively. As of January 2018, Pratyush
and Mihir are the fastest supercomputer in India with a maximum speed of 6.8
PetaFlops at a total cost of INR 438.9 Crore. The system was inaugurated by Dr.
Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for science and technology, on 8 January
2018.The word 'Pratyush' defines the rising sun.

Being a High Performance Computing (HPC) facility, Pratyush and Mihir

consists of several computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8 PetaFlops. It
is the first multi-PetaFlops supercomputer ever built in India.[4]

Pratyush and Mihir are two High Performance Computing (HPC) units. They are
located at two government institutes, one being 4.0 PetaFlops unit at IITM,
Pune and another 2.8 PetaFlops unit at the National Centre for Medium Range
Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Noida. They provide a combined output of
6.8 PetaFlops.
Pratyush and Mihir are used in the fields of weather forecasting and climate
monitoring in India.[4] It helps the country to make better forecasts in terms of
Monsoon, fishing, air quality, extreme events like Tsunami, cyclones,
earthquakes, lightning and other natural calamities such as floods, droughts
etc.[3] India is the fourth country in the world to have a High Performance
Computing facility dedicated for weather and climate research after Japan, the
United States and the United Kingdom.

The High Performance Computing (HPC) facility in India has grown from 40
TeraFlops in 2008 to 1 PetaFlops in the year 2013-14.[4] But India still
remained at a lower position in terms of HPC infrastructure rankings in the
world.[4]

Government of India approved 400 crore Rupees in 2017 to build a

supercomputer with a computing capacity of 10 PetaFlops.[1] The engineers of
IITM, Pune worked under the leadership of Suryachandra A Rao and built
Pratyush in 2018.[5] The overall cost was around 450 crore Indian Rupees.[4]

With the introduction of Pratyush and Mihir, India hopes to move from the
165th position to gain a position in the top 30s in the Top500 list of
supercomputers in the world
2. Design of 4- bit ALU using Logisim

In computing, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a combinational digital circuit

that performs arithmetic and bitwise operations on integer binary
numbers.[1][2][3] This is in contrast to a floating-point unit (FPU), which
operates on floating point numbers. It is a fundamental building block of many
types of computing circuits, including the central processing unit (CPU) of
computers, FPUs, and graphics processing units (GPUs).[4]

An ALU has a variety of input and output nets, which are the electrical
conductors used to convey digital signals between the ALU and external
circuitry. When an ALU is operating, external circuits apply signals to the ALU
inputs and, in response, the ALU produces and conveys signals to external
circuitry via its outputs.

The Logisim simulated 4-bit ALU: