Intermittent computing research featured in Nature Physics

Arm-ECS research into energy-driven and intermittently powered computing systems has been featured in a Nature Physics article by Mark Buchanan discussing on biologically inspired computing. In particular, it focuses on our recent article on Energy Driven Computing in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, led by Arm-ECS researcher Sivert Sliper.

This trend faces some serious obstacles linked to the unavoidable need for energy. The number of connected devices is projected to be over 20 billion in the next year or two, and 70 billion by 2025. Until now, our computing devices have remained within the scope of our oversight and maintenance. Rechargeable batteries can be recharged, and replaced when necessary. That will increasingly become not only uneconomical, but practically impossible due to their sheer number. As an alternative, engineers will shift to the pursuit of devices able to harvest their own energy, although it will require a profound shift in computing strategy. In particular, future computing could shift to emphasizing energy over performance, only providing the maximum quality of service over certain intervals. As recently described by Sivert Sliper and colleagues (https://doi.org/dmkd), engineers see three progressive steps in moving toward this vision.