Real-Time Analysis of Unstructured Data with Machine Learning on Heterogeneous Architectures

TL;DR

This paper explores deploying machine learning, specifically graph neural networks, on heterogeneous hardware like GPUs and FPGAs for real-time particle tracking at CERN's LHCb experiment, aiming to improve speed and energy efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a novel GNN-based pipeline for particle track reconstruction implemented on GPUs and FPGAs within CERN's trigger system, demonstrating improved performance over classical methods.

Findings

GNN pipeline outperforms classical algorithms in speed.

GPU implementation achieves high throughput with low energy use.

FPGA acceleration reduces power consumption significantly.

Abstract

As the particle physics community needs higher and higher precisions in order to test our current model of the subatomic world, larger and larger datasets are necessary. With upgrades scheduled for the detectors of colliding-beam experiments around the world, and specifically at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, more collisions and more complex interactions are expected. This directly implies an increase in data produced and consequently in the computational resources needed to process them. At CERN, the amount of data produced is gargantuan. This is why the data have to be heavily filtered and selected in real time before being permanently stored. This data can then be used to perform physics analyses, in order to expand our current understanding of the universe and improve the Standard Model of physics. This real-time filtering, known as triggering, involves complex processing happening often at frequencies as high as 40 MHz. This thesis contributes to understanding how machine learning models can be efficiently deployed in such environments, in order to maximize throughput and minimize energy consumption. Inevitably, modern hardware designed for such tasks and contemporary algorithms are needed in order to meet the challenges posed by the stringent, high-frequency data rates. In this work, I present our graph neural network-based pipeline, developed for charged particle track reconstruction at the LHCb experiment at CERN. The pipeline was implemented end-to-end inside LHCb's first-level trigger, entirely on GPUs. Its performance was compared against the classical tracking algorithms currently in production at LHCb. The pipeline was also accelerated on the FPGA architecture, and its performance in terms of power consumption and processing speed was compared against the GPU implementation.