Fujitsu's high-performance computing (HPC) cloud is already being used to research the next generation of space travel.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) used Fujitsu's wave analysis solution to perform large-scale electromagnetic wave simulations, which are used to assess the intensity of radio waves in the X-ray spectrometer of the satellite. XRISM X-ray images from the space agency.
By using Fujitsu's solution, JAXA was reportedly able to generate an experimental environment that simulated observing conditions like in outer space and perform evaluations that could not be done with traditional computing methods.
Why is this important?
Electromagnetic interference between electronic components and communications equipment can be a big problem for users in all sorts of different fields, from space to standard urban transportation.
Fujitsu claims that accurate simulations of complex, large-scale electromagnetic wave problems could not be solved with conventional approximation algorithms.
However, using the HPC solution, JAXA successfully confirmed that the intensity of radio waves in XRISM's X-ray spectrometer is at a level that does not affect the satellite's observation performance, even in orbit.
"This represents a major technical breakthrough in satellite design," said Masahiro Tsujimoto, an associate professor at the JAXA Institute for Space and Astronautical Sciences. "In the XRISM satellite project, the results of this simulation played an important role in the quantitative assessment of unverified risks and confirmation of design validity."
Interested?
Even if a satellite is out of your budget, it may still be available to pay for some of the technology under the project's hood.
Japanese readers will be able to access cloud computing for between €400 and €8,000 per month, depending on their needs, when it launches later this year.
Called Fujitsu Computing-as-a-Service (CaaS), the cloud will allow users to access part of the same Arm-based architecture that powers the world's most powerful supercomputer, "Fugaku" in Kobe, Japan.