PS3 consoles become military supercomputer

[CASPER]

US Air Force researchers have created the Defence Department's largest interactive supercomputer - the 35th fastest in the world - from 1760 Sony PlayStation 3s.

The amalgamation of consoles, nicknamed the "Condor Cluster," will be used to "process high-resolution satellite images and boost surveillance capabilities" according to The Air Force Times.

It will allow scientists to monitor a 15.5-mile area in real time.

Mark Barnell, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio - where the computer was unveiled earlier this month - said that the computer is also capable of reading 20 pages per second with up to 30 percent of the characters removed and recovering all the words without error.

The "Condor Cluster" is energy efficient and at $US2 million, has a price tag well below that of traditional computing equipment.


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