Beyond gaming: Programming the PLAYSTATION®3 Cell architecture for cost-effective parallel processing

The Cell Broadband Engine (BE) architecture is a 9-core heterogeneous processor [3]. It is a new and versatile architecture that is well suited for a variety of applications including digital media, entertainment, communications, medical imaging, security and surveillance, and HPC workloads. The same Cell BE processor that powers IBM Cell blade servers is also available for a fraction of the cost in Sony PLAYSTATION3 (PS3) gaming consoles. The PS3 is not just a gaming console however because it is readily possible to install other operating systems and boot the PS3 into a programmable environment using popular Linux distributions. Thus a PS3 provides a practical vehicle for academic and research endeavors that focus on parallel architectures and parallel programming. This tutorial demonstrates the ease of leveraging PS3 consoles as low-cost and high-performance platforms for parallel execution. The tutorial provides a brief technical overview of the Cell architecture, and focuses on programming models and programming patterns that facilitate the development of efficient applications for the Cell BE.