ODROID-XU4 BOINC Solar Cluster
Donation protected
Hi Everyone and thank you for visiting my GoFundMe project page!
I have been tinkering with Raspberry Pi's and clustering them for a while, purchasing older units and used units as that was all I could afford. I have had some success and some drastic failures (fire!).
So I decided to reach out to you to help me recover and expand my knowledge and learning by rebuilding my BOINC cluster with newer, more powerful and compact processing units and that is when I then found the ODROID-XU4 which is an 8 core, credit card sized computer that is very fast and energy efficient. Each ODROID-XU4 runs around 100 with a fan etc.
I am looking to attempt to create the largest cluster I can powering it using solar power outside! These units use relatively little power compared to a full-sized computer, takes up less space, produces less heat and when you start getting a lot of them running together, that processing power adds up!
The goal of this project is to use the money donated by you and any I can spare for this project, to create a self-sustaining, outdoor, solar powered cluster using ODROID-XU4’s running BOINC projects that I will try to gear towards medical sciences projects.
· There will be many challenges including supplying enough power via Solar Panels.
· Storing of the power in batteries to run the cluster at night.
o Including power monitoring and throttling if power reserves start to run low.
· Regulate the power to optimize collection and storage during the day.
· Weatherproofing the cluster.
o Maintaining cooling in the summer
o Waterproofing
o Condensation
o Critters & Bugs
It should be noted that the reason I choose the ODROID-XU4 for this GoFundMe project is a number of reasons, they are fast, they have multiple USB 3.0 ports, GB Ethernet and that the ODROID-XU4 runs both Ubuntu and Android OS's which can run a lot of projects especially a couple of projects from the World Community Grid.
(https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/)
This project, by IBM, searches for Cures for Aids, Childhood Cancer, a cure for Tuberculosis, Clean Energy, Mapping Cancer Markers for specialized Cancer treatments to save lives and even a Vaccine for the Zika Virus and more!
Some specifics for the ODROID-XU4 (Approximately $110 per unit unless I can get them in bulk, which I am hoping I will be able to IE this GoFundMe project) are:
ODROID-XU4 is powered by ARM® big.LITTLE™ technology, the Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) solution.
ODROID-XU4 is a new generation of computing device with more powerful, more energy-efficient hardware and a smaller form factor.
Offering open source support, the board can run various flavors of Linux, including the latest Ubuntu 16.04 and Android 4.4 KitKat, 5.0 Lollipop and 7.1 Nougat.
By implementing the eMMC 5.0, USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, the ODROID-XU4 boasts amazing data transfer speeds, a feature that is increasingly required to support advanced processing power on ARM devices.
The XU4 is the most compact, more affordable and more expandable unit to date for the performance it offers. Each unit comes with a heatsink and fan, which helps offset the heat issues most 8 car ARM devices suffer from without additional cooling, heatsinks and modifications. Since this cluster will be designed to run outside, I will have to build it to include moisture control, heat venting, power storage all using solar panels and batteries!
The hardware is:
* Samsung Exynos5422 Cortex™-A15 2Ghz and Cortex™-A7 Octa core CPUs
* Mali-T628 MP6(OpenGL ES 3.0/2.0/1.1 and OpenCL 1.1 Full profile)
* 2Gbyte LPDDR3 RAM PoP stacked
* eMMC5.0 HS400 Flash Storage
* 2 x USB 3.0 Host, 1 x USB 2.0 Host
* Gigabit Ethernet port
* HDMI 1.4a for display
* Size : 83 x 58 x 22 mm approx.(including cooling fan)
Funds from this project will also include materials used to build the external enclosure, weather proofing, solar panels, batteries and other materials like cables et cetera.
I appreciate everyone visiting this page and especially those that choose to support this project. Not only do I hope to learn a lot by taking on this project (about clustering, solar power and outside computing) but allowing a device like that to contribute to BOINC projects with a minimal impact on the environment by using a renewable power source.
I have been tinkering with Raspberry Pi's and clustering them for a while, purchasing older units and used units as that was all I could afford. I have had some success and some drastic failures (fire!).
So I decided to reach out to you to help me recover and expand my knowledge and learning by rebuilding my BOINC cluster with newer, more powerful and compact processing units and that is when I then found the ODROID-XU4 which is an 8 core, credit card sized computer that is very fast and energy efficient. Each ODROID-XU4 runs around 100 with a fan etc.
I am looking to attempt to create the largest cluster I can powering it using solar power outside! These units use relatively little power compared to a full-sized computer, takes up less space, produces less heat and when you start getting a lot of them running together, that processing power adds up!
The goal of this project is to use the money donated by you and any I can spare for this project, to create a self-sustaining, outdoor, solar powered cluster using ODROID-XU4’s running BOINC projects that I will try to gear towards medical sciences projects.
· There will be many challenges including supplying enough power via Solar Panels.
· Storing of the power in batteries to run the cluster at night.
o Including power monitoring and throttling if power reserves start to run low.
· Regulate the power to optimize collection and storage during the day.
· Weatherproofing the cluster.
o Maintaining cooling in the summer
o Waterproofing
o Condensation
o Critters & Bugs
It should be noted that the reason I choose the ODROID-XU4 for this GoFundMe project is a number of reasons, they are fast, they have multiple USB 3.0 ports, GB Ethernet and that the ODROID-XU4 runs both Ubuntu and Android OS's which can run a lot of projects especially a couple of projects from the World Community Grid.
(https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/)
This project, by IBM, searches for Cures for Aids, Childhood Cancer, a cure for Tuberculosis, Clean Energy, Mapping Cancer Markers for specialized Cancer treatments to save lives and even a Vaccine for the Zika Virus and more!
Some specifics for the ODROID-XU4 (Approximately $110 per unit unless I can get them in bulk, which I am hoping I will be able to IE this GoFundMe project) are:
ODROID-XU4 is powered by ARM® big.LITTLE™ technology, the Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) solution.
ODROID-XU4 is a new generation of computing device with more powerful, more energy-efficient hardware and a smaller form factor.
Offering open source support, the board can run various flavors of Linux, including the latest Ubuntu 16.04 and Android 4.4 KitKat, 5.0 Lollipop and 7.1 Nougat.
By implementing the eMMC 5.0, USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, the ODROID-XU4 boasts amazing data transfer speeds, a feature that is increasingly required to support advanced processing power on ARM devices.
The XU4 is the most compact, more affordable and more expandable unit to date for the performance it offers. Each unit comes with a heatsink and fan, which helps offset the heat issues most 8 car ARM devices suffer from without additional cooling, heatsinks and modifications. Since this cluster will be designed to run outside, I will have to build it to include moisture control, heat venting, power storage all using solar panels and batteries!
The hardware is:
* Samsung Exynos5422 Cortex™-A15 2Ghz and Cortex™-A7 Octa core CPUs
* Mali-T628 MP6(OpenGL ES 3.0/2.0/1.1 and OpenCL 1.1 Full profile)
* 2Gbyte LPDDR3 RAM PoP stacked
* eMMC5.0 HS400 Flash Storage
* 2 x USB 3.0 Host, 1 x USB 2.0 Host
* Gigabit Ethernet port
* HDMI 1.4a for display
* Size : 83 x 58 x 22 mm approx.(including cooling fan)
Funds from this project will also include materials used to build the external enclosure, weather proofing, solar panels, batteries and other materials like cables et cetera.
I appreciate everyone visiting this page and especially those that choose to support this project. Not only do I hope to learn a lot by taking on this project (about clustering, solar power and outside computing) but allowing a device like that to contribute to BOINC projects with a minimal impact on the environment by using a renewable power source.
Organizer
Mitchell Tuckness
Organizer
Lovington, NM