NWO supports TU/e research on energy-efficient AI processors and improving computational fluid dynamics

Science financier NWO is providing funding for two TU/e research projects led by professors Henk Corporaal and Federico Toschi. They can use the money to develop more energy-efficient AI processors and take computational fluid dynamics to a higher level. A total of nine projects will receive a total of more than nine million euros from NWO. Consortium partners are contributing nearly another one and a half million euros in co-funding.

Edge AI processors

Henk Corporaal, professor at the department of Electrical Engineering and affiliated with AI institute EAISI, is leading the research with co-initiator Federico Corradi on improving and making more energy efficient Edge AI processors. Yes, AI calculations can be performed at a central location (think of the cloud) or a private data center, but also near the sensor from which the data is produced. By collecting and processing data locally, decisions and actions can be made faster and there is less chance of data leakage.

However, processors must become at least 100 times more energy efficient to enable a wide range of intelligent Edge-applications, that is why innovation at all levels of design is required. NWO, Delft University of Technology and the University of Groningen are also involved in the research; co-funders are Innatera Nanosystems B.V. and the IMEC Foundation.

Improving computational fluid dynamics

Professor Federico Toschi of the Applied Physics and Science Education department will lead a team to improve computational fluid dynamics. The aim of the project is to develop tools capable of accurately and efficiently predicting, via the use of superfast computers and innovative softwares, how liquids and gases flow under rarefied conditions.

Toschi's team aims to boost computational fluid dynamics by combining different methods - think data-driven methods (machine learning) and model-driven methods (physics-based) - to increase computational efficiency, thus reduce computational demands, while retaining good accuracy on the physics of gases out-of-equilibrium. The co-funders are ASML, Flow Matters and Carbyon.

Open Technology Program

A total of nine projects will receive a total of more than nine million euros from NWO. Consortium partners are also contributing nearly one and a half million euros in co-funding. The grants are part of the Open Technology Program, through which NWO supports interdisciplinary scientific research and collaboration between scientists and companies and other organizations.

This article was first published on 10 January by TU/e.