Feasibility of serial ATA cables for the physical link in high performance computing clusters

Abstract

A novel solution for inexpensive computing cluster networks is proposed and tested for feasibility. The network uses Serial ATA cables---commonly used in personal computers for connecting hard drives---as the physical media for connecting nodes in the computing cluster. The compute nodes, based on a Xilinx Platform FPGA, contain both microprocessors and high speed serial transceivers (that drive the SATA cables). If viable, the approach leads to a very cost-effective communication network. Experimental results do show that a computing cluster network based on SATA cables is feasible and that the cables provide adequately error-free transmission for lengths up to 10 meters.