Context: Recently, the Prime Minister of India inaugurated three PARAM Rudra Supercomputers worth Rs 130 crore under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).

Key Points

• These indigenously developed supercomputers, deployed in Pune, Delhi, and Kolkata, will drive advanced research in physics, cosmology, earth sciences, and other scientific fields. 

• The Giant Metre Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune, Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) in Delhi, and S.N. Bose Centre in Kolkata will utilize these systems for cutting-edge research, enhancing India’s scientific capabilities.

• Additionally, the Prime Minister launched a High-Performance Computing (HPC) system focused on weather and climate research. They are located at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune and the National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF) in Noida. 

• These systems, named ‘Arka’ and ‘Arunika’, are tailored to provide more accurate predictions for tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, heat waves, and other critical weather phenomena.

National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)

• It is an important initiative by the Government of India to boost indigenous efforts to be in the forefront of supercomputing capability for socio-economic development of the nation. 

• The mission was jointly steered by the Ministry of Electronics and IT and Department of Science & Technology.

Key Features

• Indigenous Development: A core focus of NSM is on developing indigenous hardware and software for supercomputing systems, including processors, networks, and storage solutions.

• Collaborative Effort: The mission is jointly led by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), with implementation support from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

• PARAM Series: Several supercomputers, like the PARAM series, have already been developed under the mission, with installations in major research institutions across India.

Impact:

• This initiative supports the government’s vision of “Digital India” and “Make in India” and will place India at the forefront of the global supercomputing map.

• The mission enables advanced research in crucial areas like climate change, healthcare, material science, and defense.

• Supports India’s ambition to be a global leader in emerging technologies like quantum computing, AI, and big data.

Key Facts on Supercomputers

• A supercomputer is a powerful computing machine that performs at the highest operational rate, typically measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS).Key Performance Indicators:

• 1. FLOPS (Floating-point Operations per Second): The performance of supercomputers is measured in teraflops (trillions of FLOPS) or petaflops (quadrillions of FLOPS).

• 2. Top500: A bi-annual ranking of the top 500 supercomputers globally, based on their performance.

Applications of Supercomputers

• Weather Forecasting: Supercomputers are critical in predicting weather patterns, forecasting storms, and monitoring climate change.

• Space Exploration: Used for simulations related to space missions, spacecraft design, and orbital mechanics.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Supercomputers are increasingly being used for machine learning and deep learning models, as they can process large datasets quickly.

• Healthcare and Genomics: Essential for drug discovery, genome sequencing, and biomedical simulations.

India’s Supercomputers

1. PARAM Rudra: Recently launched under India’s National Supercomputing Mission, these supercomputers are deployed in Pune, Delhi, and Kolkata.

2. Pratyush and Mihir: India’s major supercomputers, installed for weather forecasting, housed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (Pune) and National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (Noida).

3. PARAM Yuva-II: Developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), it was one of the fastest supercomputers in India, used for scientific research.

Top Supercomputers in the World

• Frontier (USA): As of 2023, Frontier, developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is the fastest supercomputer in the world, with a performance exceeding 1 exaFLOP (1 quintillion operations per second).

• Fugaku (Japan): Developed by Riken and Fujitsu, Fugaku was previously the fastest supercomputer and is still among the top performers, widely used for various applications like drug discovery and climate modeling.