Support Library and Binaries for SpiNNaker Applications

Introduction

SpiNNFrontEndCommon includes two key parts:

1. front_end_common_lib, which provides miscellaneous utilities for working with high level SpiNNaker applications as supported by the SpiNNFrontEndCommon Python library.
2. models, which contains various binaries that SpiNNFrontEndCommon deploys to SpiNNaker to support its operations.

The Front End Common library

The library particularly includes the simulation control framework, the data specification access code, and the buffered recording code. For details, see:

• simulation.h
• data_specification.h
• recording.h

The Support Binaries

These are:

• The chip power monitor, which helps determine the real power consumption of programs running on SpiNNaker. See chip_power_monitor.c
• The command sender, which is responsible for injecting messages into SpiNNaker from the host system at specified times or in response to key events. See command_sender_multicast_source.c
• The bitfield compressor system, which reduces the number of messages being delivered to individual cores. See bit_field_sorter_and_searcher.c and bit_field_compressor.c
• The live packet gatherer, which directs SpiNNaker packets out to the host system while a simulation is running. See live_packet_gather.c
• The routing table minimiser, which compresses routing tables so they actually fit into SpiNNaker's hardware. See simple_minimise.c
• The reverse IPTag multicast source, which injects live messages into a running SpiNNaker system. See reverse_iptag_multicast_source.c
• The extra monitor, which handles packet reinjection when the SpiNNaker network is heavily loaded, and also assists in fast data transfer with non-ethernet chips. See extra_monitor_support.c
• The data transfer supporter, which handles fast bulk data transfer between the controlling host and SpiNNaker chips. See data_speed_up_packet_gatherer.c

Preferred Citation

Rowley, A., Brenninkmeijer, C., Davidson, S., Fellows, D., Gait, A., Lester, D., Plana, L., Rhodes, O., Stokes, A., Furber, S. SpiNNTools: The Execution Engine for the SpiNNaker Platform. Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol 13, pp 231, 2019. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00231