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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/L000725/1
Title: AnyScale Applications
Principal Investigator: Singer, Dr J
Other Investigators:
Sventek, Professor J Vijayakumar, Professor S Furber, Professor S B
O'Boyle, Professor M Chalmers, Professor M Lujan, Professor M
Nagarajan, Dr V Brown, Professor G
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Advanced Risc Machines (Arm) Amazon Web Services (Not UK) Google
Oracle Corporation
Department: School of Computing Science
Organisation: University of Glasgow
Scheme: Standard Research
Starts: 01 October 2013 Ends: 31 March 2018 Value (£): 1,166,422
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Fundamentals of Computing Software Engineering
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Information Technologies
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Panel DatePanel NameOutcome
29 May 2013 SADEA Full Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
The ecosystem of compute devices is highly connected, and likely to

become even more so as the internet-of-things concept is realized. There is

a single underlying global protocol for communication which enables all

connected devices to interact, i.e. internet protocol (IP). In this

project, we will create a corresponding single underlying global protocol

for computation. This will enable wireless sensors, smartphones,

laptops, servers and cloud data centres

to co-operate on what is conceptually a single task,

i.e. an AnyScale app.

A user might run an AnyScale app on her smartphone, then when the battery is running

low, or wireless connectivity becomes available, the app may shift its

computation to a cloud server automatically. This kind of runtime decision

making and taking is made possible by the AnyScale framework, which uses a

cost/benefit model and machine learning techniques to drive its

behaviour.

When the app is running on the phone, it cannot do very complex

calculations or use too much memory. However in a powerful server, the

computations can be much larger and complicated. The AnyScale app will

behave in an appropriate way based on where it is running.

In this project, we will create the tools, techniques and technology to

enable software developers to create and deploy AnyScale apps. Our first

case study will be to design a movement controller app, that allows a biped

robot with realistic humanoid limbs to 'walk' over various kinds of terrain. This

is a complex computational task - generally beyond the power of embedded

chips inside robotic limbs. Our AnyScale controller will offload

computation to computers on-board the robot, or wirelessly to nearby

servers or cloud-based systems. This is an ideal scenario for robotic

exploration, e.g. of nuclear disaster sites.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Impacts
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Summary
Date Materialised
Sectors submitted by the Researcher
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Project URL:  
Further Information:  
Organisation Website: http://www.gla.ac.uk