Lovelace System HPC

High performance computing facility
High performance computing equipment
The Lovelace System is a high performance computing cluster capable of some of the most heavy-duty computing tasks in a variety of fields.
Our students can access this facility to work on projects that demand large storage, high computing power, and fast graphical generation, such as in mathematics and computer science, and to get accustomed to state-of-the-art computing technologies. The facility informs and enables our teaching while helping our postdoctorate students to pursue more advanced knowledge in their subject and tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
The facility is helping to boost research output across our core disciplines, capitalising on the increasing adoption of AI and Big Data at the University and in local industry. The Lovelace System fosters innovation and accelerates knowledge transfer in these areas, supporting research excellence while giving local industry professionals access to the skills, expertise and computing time needed to upskill and develop their businesses and institutions.
Join a drop-in session

Attend one of our drop-in sessions for an introduction to the Lovelace System, its capabilities, the people who run it, and how to access it.
Plymouth Advanced Computing Centre
Lovelace
Plymouth Advanced Computing Centre

High performance computing drives innovation across a wide range of fields, supporting interdisciplinary projects and powering computationally intensive numerical simulations across all faculties. The Lovelace System enables a broad array of workflows, from high-performance simulations on CPUs to training large AI models on cutting-edge GPUs.

The facility plays a pivotal role in advancing academic research while also offering valuable opportunities for teaching.

Vincent DrachDr Vincent Drach
Lovelace System lead

The Lovelace System will enable exciting and impactful research across the University.

Within the EmbryoPhenomics research team, in the School of Biological and Marine Sciences, we are applying this cutting-edge technology to predicting the future biology of individual marine animals to address challenges linked to conservation and food security.

Oliver TillsDr Oliver Tills
Senior Research Fellow

 

System description

The Lovelace System has been designed to support the diverse needs of students, researchers and industry professionals. It is being applied to numerical simulations in offshore renewable energy, particle physics, earthquake simulations, predictive phenomics of developing organisms, and large-scale data analysis in fields such as health sciences, bioinformatics, and operational research.
The System supports AI applications with two nodes accelerated by state-of-the-art GPUs, and is equipped with a cutting-edge interconnect (network), enabling the parallelisation of large, communication-intensive problems. This is further complemented by Lenovo’s LiCO software, which provides a graphical interface to simplify the use of clustered computing resources for AI development. The System also has an expansive, large object storage solution with a capacity of 2 petabytes (2,000 terabytes).
Other software available includes RStudio, JupyterLab, OpenFOAM, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Ansys, MATLAB, FSL and more – read more about accessing the software.

Hardware specifications

60 × Standard CPU nodes:
  • Dual AMD EPYC 9354 (2 × 32 cores)
  • 384 GB of RAM per node
2 × High Memory CPU nodes:
  • Dual AMD EPYC 9354 (2 × 32 cores)
  • 1,536 GB of RAM per node
1 × GPU L40s Accelerated Node:
  • Dual AMD EPYC 9354 (2 × 32 cores)
  • 1,536 GB of RAM per node
  • 8 × NVIDIA L40s PCIe (40 GB per card)
1 × GPU H100 Accelerated Node:
  • Dual AMD EPYC 9354 (2 × 32 cores)
  • 1,536 GB of RAM per node
  • 4 × NVIDIA H100 SXM (80 GB per card)
Ada Lovelace daguerrotype

Following the example of computing pioneers

The naming of our high performance computing facility was inspired by the work of the English mathematician, Ada Lovelace. Often considered the first computer programmer, Lovelace worked closely with Charles Babbage on the development of early computer technology, such as the analytical engine.
Lovelace described her approach to her work as "poetical science", blending logical reasoning with imaginative and creative thinking. This is an ethos staff at the Lovelace System embody by connecting the technology to research in health, engineering, and the arts. Our experts foster collaboration across sectors to discover patterns, possibilities, and new ways to solve problems – in mathematics, science, society, and more.
 
 
 

Research areas

Sunset Offshore Wind Turbine in a Wind farm under construction of England coast, UK. Image courtesy of Getty Images.  

Offshore Renewable Energy

Dr Elsa Fouragnan in the Brain Stimulation Lab (purple wash)

Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS)

EmbryoPhenomics

EmbryoPhenomics research team

 
 
 
 

Our facilities for your research and commercial activities

At the Lovelace System:
  • Access a tailored consulting service – technicians and academics use their expertise to advise on effective use of the equipment and fine-tune solutions to your requirements
  • Empower your work with large and fast CPUs and top-of-the-range graphics cards ideally suited to demanding tasks – like training AI
  • Allocate extensive computing time and cloudless storage to your projects
  • Collaborate on interdisciplinary projects – skills and knowledge are drawn from across the University and beyond, then supported by the facility to achieve common goals

Facilities for research, innovation and learning

At Plymouth, students can access cutting-edge laboratories that offer experience in real-world applications. Our facilities enhance learning, help develop practical skills, and foster collaboration on innovative projects, all preparing students to tackle complex challenges in their fields.
Our specialised equipment supports pioneering transdisciplinary research and commercial ventures, driving innovation, developing solutions to pressing global challenges, and making meaningful contributions to both industry and society.
Architecture students working with models in a University of Plymouth studio