Applying for UKAFF time
UKAFF's service ended on 31st December 2007.
No further applications can be accepted.
Getting access to the UKAFF supercomputer
There are two ways to get access to the UKAFF supercomputer:
- Apply for production time (if you already have a parallel code which has beeen tested on UKAFF)
- Apply for development time (if you don't have a parallel code, or your parallel code hasn't been tested on UKAFF)
Applying for production time
Use of the facility for scientific work is through competitive proposals, and is open to
any scientist working in a UK institution, including graduate students.
Proposals to use the facility are considered by the Time Allocation
Committee (TAC), who will have access to technical advice. Proposals
are judged on: the relevance of the scientific case to the aims of
UKAFF; the quality of the proposed science; demonstration by the
applicants that they require the use of UKAFF; and demonstration by
the applicants that they are able to make efficient use of the Facility.
The TAC provides recommendations to the Directors, whose decisions as
to time allocation are final.
Membership of the TAC is as follows:
- Prof Matthew Bate (University of Exeter) (Chairman)
- Prof Anthony Whitworth (University of Wales, Cardiff)
- Dr Avery Meiksin (Royal Observatory Edinburgh)
The Facility Manager and Parallel Programming Advisor will also provide technical input.
Time on UKAFF is allocated at quarterly intervals starting 1 Jan, 1
April, 1 July and 1 Oct, with application deadlines 2 months before
those dates (1 Nov, 1 Feb, 1 May, 1 Aug). Decisions will be
communicated to applicants approximately one month before the relevant
quarter. Applications can cover periods of up to six months, but the
time will be allocated by quarters and cannot be carried over to later
quarters.
Applications should be made using, or following the structure of, the
LaTeX template form given here (also
available as PostScript). Applications
should not exceed six sides of A4.
UKAFF's current support funding expires on 31st December 2007. Time allocations have now been made up to this date. An application has been made to STFC for funding to extend this support and provide a major upgrade to the facility. No further applications for computing time will be accepted until the outcome of this application is known.
Guidelines for Applicants
Type of Science - UKAFF is a national facility dedicated to the support of theoretical research into astrophysics.
Quality of science - The applicant needs to satisfy the TAC that the science goals are at
the forefront of current scientific endeavour.
Technical feasibility - The applicant needs to satisfy the TAC that the proposal is
technically feasible, in terms of access to and experience with a
working code, in terms of the resources requested, and in terms of
ability to analyse and interpret the results. This includes a requirement to demonstrate that codes make efficient use of the requested resources.
Need for UKAFF - The applicant needs to satisfy the TAC that use of UKAFF is essential
to the success of the project.
Applying for development time
Potential users of UKAFF with access to a working code (meeting
the science area and quality criteria outlined above) which is not well parallelised should not
normally apply for time through the TAC, rather they should apply for
access on a developmental basis. This will include:
- access to the UKAFF machine
- a limited allocation of machine time
- advice and assistance in the area of parallelisation of
existing codes
Applications for development time can be made at any time, awards will
be made at the discretion of the UKAFF directors.
Please contact the Parallel Programming
Advisor (Dr Richard West, richard.west@astro.le.ac.uk) to discuss
requirements.
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