These short-term assignments must get done fast--designing filter algorithms for digital signal processors, say, or writing software for Internet-based phone calls.
It greatly simplifies parallel programming, enabling GPU acceleration of a broader set of popular algorithms, such as adaptive mesh refinement, fast multipole methods and multigrid methods.
As revealed last year, the US Department of Homeland Security is working on a system called FAST (Future Attribute Screening Technology) that relies on an array of sensors and advanced algorithms to detect physiological and behavioral cues that are said to indicate malintent.