TAG: GS:3- SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Prime Minister of India virtually launched three Param Rudra Super Computing Systems and a High-Performance Computing (HPC) system for weather and climate research.
EXPLANATION:
What is a Supercomputer?
- A supercomputer is a computer that performs at or near the currently highest operational rate for computers.
- Generally, PETAFLOP is a measure of a Supercomputer’s processing speed and can be expressed as a thousand trillion floating point operations per second.
- FLOPS (floating point operations per second) are typically used to measure the performance of a computer’s processor.
- Using floating-point encoding, extremely long numbers can be handled relatively easily.
PARAM Rudra Supercomputer:
- PARAM Rudra Supercomputers are developed indigenously by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
Significance:
- These supercomputers will propel India’s scientific research capabilities, making state-of-the-art technology accessible to young scientists.
- They will assist in areas like disaster management, industrial growth, agriculture (weather and soil analysis), and boost national capability in science and technology.
- Part of India’s strategy towards self-reliance and leadership in Industry 4.0.
Supercomputers in India:
- India began focusing on supercomputing in 1987 after being denied the purchase of a Cray X-MP by the USA. This led to India’s development of indigenous supercomputers.
- Major Indian Supercomputers:
- PARAM Series (developed by C-DAC): Includes PARAM Siddhi AI, PARAM Pravega, PARAM Utkarsh, and PARAM Shivay.
- Pratyush and Mihir (for weather forecasting) and AI Supercomputer AIRAWAT (ranked 75th globally as of 2023).
Applications: Supercomputers in India are utilized for weather forecasting, genomic sequencing, space exploration, aviation engineering, defense applications, and oil & gas exploration.
Significance: Supercomputers drive innovation, research, and are instrumental in critical areas like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and national security, positioning India as a global leader in technology.
What is the National Supercomputing Mission?
- In 2015, the National Supercomputing Mission was launched to enhance the research capacities and capabilities in the country by connecting them to form a Supercomputing grid, with National Knowledge Network (NKN) as the backbone.
o The NKN project is aimed at establishing a strong and robust Indian network which will be capable of providing secure and reliable connectivity.
- It supports the government’s vision of ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives.
- The Mission is being jointly steered by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
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