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Superconducting Technology Assessment - nitrd

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1.5.1 FUNDING<br />

Three Funding Scenarios<br />

The development of RSFQ will vary depending on the level of available federal funding. Three possibilities were<br />

considered: aggressive government funding, moderate government funding, and a scenario devoid of any additional<br />

government investment.<br />

Level of Funding<br />

Aggressive Government Funding.<br />

Moderate<br />

Government Funding.<br />

No Additional<br />

Investment.<br />

1.6 TECHNICAL ISSUES<br />

TABLE 1-2. THREE FUNDING SCENARIOS<br />

Expected Results<br />

The roadmaps presented assume aggressive government funding.<br />

This scenario presumes a sharing of the costs of development between<br />

government and industry, which the panel does not believe is a realistic<br />

expectation. With reduced government funding and without industrial<br />

contribution, the panel sees the technologies maturing much more slowly.<br />

This scenario leaves the entire development to industry. In this case, it is unlikely<br />

that the core SCE technology would mature sufficiently to build a machine<br />

in the foreseeable future. The panel would expect continued low-level investment<br />

in system architecture and programming environments, but no focused effort.<br />

1.6.1 SUPERCOMPUTING SYSTEM CONSTRAINTS ON THE USE OF RSFQ<br />

While the goal of this study is not to develop a supercomputer system architecture, architectural constraints and<br />

opportunities are important for understanding how superconducting electronics technology would be deployed in<br />

a large system and what functionality would be demanded of the superconducting electronics. The earlier Hybrid<br />

<strong>Technology</strong> Multi-Threaded (HTMT) project provided a basis for understanding possible architectures using RSFQ electronics.<br />

Appendix F: System Architectures expands on the discussion below. (The full text of this appendix can be<br />

found on the CD accompanying this report.)<br />

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