Accelerating Machine Learning Inference with GPUs in ProtoDUNE Data Processing

We study the performance of a cloud-based GPU-accelerated inference server to speed up event reconstruction in neutrino data batch jobs. Using detector data from the ProtoDUNE experiment and employing the standard DUNE grid job submission tools, we attempt to reprocess the data by running several thousand concurrent grid jobs, a rate we expect to be typical of current and future neutrino physics experiments. We process most of the dataset with the GPU version of our processing algorithm and the remainder with the CPU version for timing comparisons. We find that a 100-GPU cloud-based server is able to easily meet the processing demand, and that using the GPU version of the event processing algorithm is two times faster than processing these data with the CPU version when comparing to the newest CPUs in our sample. The amount of data transferred to the inference server during the GPU runs can overwhelm even the highest-bandwidth network switches, however, unless care is taken to observe network facility limits or otherwise distribute the jobs to multiple sites. We discuss the lessons learned from this processing campaign and several avenues for future improvements.

Structural health monitoring of sabo check dams with cosmic-ray muography

Debris dams have a crucial role in consolidation of river basins and allow erosion control, flood protection in mountainous areas. Many of these infrastructures have operated over five decades, thus structural health monitoring (SHM) of these infrastructures became timely due to their aging. Utilizing new techniques is required for inspecting a large number of dams and deciding about their reinforcement or reconstruction. In this work, we propose cosmic-ray muography as a complementary tool for the SHM of debris dams. We conducted the first muographic surveying of a sabo check dam in the Karasu River, Gunma, Japan. The average mass density image was produced with a spatial resolution of 0.5 m through the dam. The comparison of density data reconstructed by muography and gamma-ray logging suggest the internal deterioration of dam in the region where cement released out from the embankment body.