We bring experts together to push the boundaries of physics.
Just over 3,500 miles apart but with complementary expertise in hardware and software, the University of Michigan partnered with the University of Edinburgh on a DARPA project for its software defined hardware program.
This valuable program tested the theory that augmenting traditional cores with accelerators or different interconnects and computing styles would help expand sought-after performance within strict power and area constraints.
Arm connected the two university teams due to their complementary expertise to explore how to travel beyond Moore’s Law together – engaging many students along the way.
The end of Moore's Law is the key driver for our work here at Michigan. We are focused on researching ways to improve on the scaling of traditional compute, so the DARPA program was a natural fit. We have a long history with Arm, so it made sense to bring Arm in, to leverage its commercial IP and its ecosystem of compilers, toolchains, and all the off-the-shelf elements that are critical in the development of a vast range of devices.
Software Joins Forces with Hardware
When the University of Michigan’s Division of Computer Science and Engineering was invited to tender to run the Software Defined Hardware (SDH) program, a key project of DARPA’s Electronic Resurgence Initiative (ERI), it turned to Arm Research for support. Arm Research immediately identified an ideal partner—the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Its software expertise was the perfect complement to Michigan’s hardware knowledge.
DARPA contracts can be extremely competitive, but the combined academic and industrial team was able to make a persuasive case that any technology resulting from the program would enjoy a fast path to commercialization.
The DARPA program offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to do something really big, working with a world-class team to build a software stack for a new piece of hardware that would be better than anything currently out there. And to do so in a three-year timeframe. This would really bring that real-world focus to our research and make us see things in a different way
Access to New Opportunities
Thanks to the introduction from Arm, collaboration with the University of Michigan gave the University of Edinburgh access to new research opportunities. In addition, Arm provided key IP and software tools, including:
Another important resource for the combined team was an expert from the Arm product team, who joined weekly meetings, provided updates and support, and gathered information to adjust the IP from Arm to meet requirements.
A key goal of the program is to create useful research, rather than something that just appears in a paper and never advances, and Arm was able to provide feedback on ideas—such as how successful the technology could be in commercial applications and whether it might outperform something being worked on elsewhere. This also helps students bridge the skills gap between academia and relevant industry work.
And, because its IP has that rich ecosystem around it, it is much more compelling than just using a custom core you designed, which is very common in academia because it can be hard to get an NDA in place to get IP from elsewhere. That gives us potential to be picked up by industry in the end, which again makes us more competitive.
Students who have worked on programs like these become highly sought-after as graduates, because they have experience of things they would not normally get in a university. They are work on cutting-edge technology thanks both to Arm and the funding agencies we work with. The likes of DARPA tend to be very forward-looking, to the point where the projects we are working on seem almost impossible. That is a great thing for students to be involved with.
