基于图形处理器(GPU)的通用计算

General Purpose Computation on GPU

伴随着PC级微机的崛起和普及 ,多年来计算机图形的大部分应用发生了从工作站向微机的大转移 ,这种转移甚至发生在像虚拟现实、计算机仿真这样的实时 (中、小规模 )应用中 这一切的发生从很大程度上源自于图形处理硬件的发展和革新 近年来 ,随着图形处理器 (GPU)性能的大幅度提高以及可编程特性的发展 ,人们首先开始将图形流水线的某些处理阶段以及某些图形算法从CPU向GPU转移 除了计算机图形学本身的应用 ,涉及到其他领域的计算 ,以至于通用计算近 2～ 3年来成为GPU的应用之一 ,并成为研究热点 文中从若干图形硬件发展的历史开始 ,介绍和分析最新GPU在通用计算方面的应用及其技术原理和发展状况 。

Along with the rapid development of personal computers, various applications in computer graphics, even real time applications in middle or small scale such as those in virtual reality and computer simulation, are migrating from workstations to PCs To a large extent no doubt, the migration comes from the innovation of graphics hardware For many years, with the advancement of graphics processing unit(GPU)and the creation of its new feature of programmability, scientists begin to transfer some of the processing stages in the graphics output pipeline or some graphics algorithms from CPU to GPU To our surprise, except from those applications in graphics itself, GPU finds its applications in general purpose computations in other fields, and it comes up as a hot topic for research in recent 2～3 years In this paper, starting from a brief introduction to some historical events on graphics hardware development, a detail introduction and analysis will be given to the technique and the latest development of GPU for general purpose computations, in combination with our own practice Finally, a discussion is given to probe into the development perspective of GPU in this regard