cuSignal is a GPU-accelerated signal processing library in Python that is both based on and extends the SciPy Signal API. Notably, cuSignal:
- Delivers orders-of-magnitude speedups over CPU with a familiar API
- Supports a zero-copy connection to popular Deep Learning frameworks like PyTorch, Tensorflow, and Jax
- Runs on any CUDA-capable GPU of Maxwell architecture or newer, including the Jetson Nano
- Optimizes streaming, real-time applications via zero-copy memory buffer between CPU and GPU
- Is fully built within the GPU Python Ecosystem, where both core functionality and optimized kernels are dependent on the CuPy and Numba projects
If you're interested in the above concepts but prefer to program in C++ rather than Python, please consider MatX. MatX is an efficient C++17 GPU Numerical Computing library with a Pythonic Syntax.
Table of Contents
- Quick Start
- Installation
- Documentation
- Notebooks and Examples
- Software Defined Radio (SDR) Integration
- Benchmarking
- Contribution Guide
- cuSignal Blogs and Talks
Quick Start
A polyphase resampler changes the sample rate of an incoming signal while using polyphase filter banks to preserve the overall shape of the original signal. The following example shows how cuSignal serves as a drop-in replacement for SciPy Signal's polyphase resampler and how cuSignal interacts with data generated on GPU with CuPy, a drop-in replacement for the numerical computing library NumPy.
Scipy Signal and NumPy (CPU)
import numpy as np
from scipy import signal
start = 0
stop = 10
num_samps = int(1e8)
resample_up = 2
resample_down = 3
cx = np.linspace(start, stop, num_samps, endpoint=False)
cy = np.cos(-cx**2/6.0)
%%timeit
cf = signal.resample_poly(cy, resample_up, resample_down, window=('kaiser', 0.5))
This code executes on 2x Xeon E5-2600 in 2.36 sec.
cuSignal and CuPy (GPU)
import cupy as cp
import cusignal
start = 0
stop = 10
num_samps = int(1e8)
resample_up = 2
resample_down = 3
gx = cp.linspace(start, stop, num_samps, endpoint=False)
gy = cp.cos(-gx**2/6.0)
%%timeit
gf = cusignal.resample_poly(gy, resample_up, resample_down, window=('kaiser', 0.5))
This code executes on an NVIDIA V100 in 13.8 ms, a 170x increase over SciPy Signal. On an A100, this same code completes in 4.69 ms; 500x faster than CPU.
Next, we'll show that cuSignal can be used to access data that isn't explicitly generated on GPU. In this case, we use cusignal.get_shared_mem
to allocate a buffer of memory that's been addressed by both the GPU and CPU. This process allows cuSignal to process data online.
cuSignal with Data Generated on the CPU with Mapped, Pinned (zero-copy) Memory
import cupy as cp
import numpy as np
import cusignal
start = 0
stop = 10
num_samps = int(1e8)
resample_up = 2
resample_down = 3
# Generate Data on CPU with NumPy
cx = np.linspace(start, stop, num_samps, endpoint=False)
cy = np.cos(-cx**2/6.0)
# Create shared memory between CPU and GPU and load with CPU signal (cy)
gpu_signal = cusignal.get_shared_mem(num_samps, dtype=np.float64)
%%time
# Move data to GPU/CPU shared buffer and run polyphase resampler
gpu_signal[:] = cy
gf = cusignal.resample_poly(gpu_signal, resample_up, resample_down, window=('kaiser', 0.5))
This code executes on an NVIDIA V100 in 174 ms.
Finally, the example below shows that cuSignal can access data that's been generated elsewhere and moved to the GPU via cp.asarray
. While this approach is fine for prototyping and algorithm development, it should be avoided for online signal processing.
cuSignal with Data Generated on the CPU and Copied to GPU
import cupy as cp
import numpy as np
import cusignal
start = 0
stop = 10
num_samps = int(1e8)
resample_up = 2
resample_down = 3
# Generate Data on CPU
cx = np.linspace(start, stop, num_samps, endpoint=False)
cy = np.cos(-cx**2/6.0)
%%time
gf = cusignal.resample_poly(cp.asarray(cy), resample_up, resample_down, window=('kaiser', 0.5))
This code executes on an NVIDIA V100 in 637 ms.
Installation
cuSignal has been tested on and supports all modern GPUs - from Maxwell to Ampere. While Anaconda is the preferred installation mechanism for cuSignal, developers and Jetson users should follow the source build instructions below; there isn't presently a conda aarch64 package for cuSignal.
Conda, Linux OS (Preferred)
cuSignal can be installed with (Miniconda or the full Anaconda distribution) from the rapidsai
channel. If you're using a Jetson GPU, please follow the build instructions below
conda install -c rapidsai -c conda-forge -c nvidia \
cusignal
# To specify a certain CUDA or Python version (e.g. 11.8 and 3.9, respectively)
conda install -c rapidsai -c conda-forge -c nvidia \
cusignal python=3.9 cudatoolkit=11.8
For the nightly verison of cusignal
, which includes pre-release features:
conda install -c rapidsai-nightly -c conda-forge -c nvidia \
cusignal
# To specify a certain CUDA or Python version (e.g. 11.8 and 3.9, respectively)
conda install -c rapidsai-nightly -c conda-forge -c nvidia \
cusignal python=3.9 cudatoolkit=11.8
While only CUDA versions >= 11.2 are officially supported, cuSignal has been confirmed to work with CUDA version 10.2 and above. If you run into any issues with the conda install, please follow the source installation instructions, below.
For more OS and version information, please visit the RAPIDS version picker.
Source, aarch64 (Jetson Nano, TK1, TX2, Xavier, AGX Clara DevKit), Linux OS
Since the Jetson platform is based on the arm chipset, we need to use an aarch64 supported Anaconda environment. While there are multiple options here, we recommend miniforge. Further, it's assumed that your Jetson device is running a current (>= 4.3) edition of JetPack and contains the CUDA Toolkit.
Please note, prior to installing cuSignal, ensure that your PATH environment variables are set to find the CUDA Toolkit. This can be done with:
export PATH=/usr/local/cuda/bin${PATH:+:${PATH}}
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/cuda/lib64${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}}
-
Clone the cuSignal repository
# Set the location to cuSignal in an environment variable CUSIGNAL_HOME export CUSIGNAL_HOME=$(pwd)/cusignal # Download the cuSignal repo git clone https://github.com/rapidsai/cusignal.git $CUSIGNAL_HOME
-
Install miniforge and create the cuSignal conda environment:
cd $CUSIGNAL_HOME conda env create -f conda/environments/cusignal_jetson_base.yml
Note: Compilation and installation of CuPy can be quite lengthy (~30+ mins), particularly on the Jetson Nano. Please consider setting the
CUPY_NVCC_GENERATE_CODE
environment variable to decrease the CuPy dependency install time:export CUPY_NVCC_GENERATE_CODE="arch=compute_XX,code=sm_XX"
where
XX
is your GPU's compute capability. If you'd like to compile to multiple architectures (e.g Nano and Xavier), concatenate thearch=...
string with semicolins. -
Activate created conda environment
conda activate cusignal-dev
-
Install cuSignal module
cd $CUSIGNAL_HOME ./build.sh # install cuSignal to $PREFIX if set, otherwise $CONDA_PREFIX # run ./build.sh -h to print the supported command line options.
-
Once installed, periodically update environment
cd $CUSIGNAL_HOME conda env update -f conda/environments/cusignal_jetson_base.yml
-
Optional: Confirm unit testing via PyTest
cd $CUSIGNAL_HOME/python pytest -v # for verbose mode pytest -v -k <function name> # for more select testing
Source, Linux OS
-
Clone the cuSignal repository
# Set the location to cuSignal in an environment variable CUSIGNAL_HOME export CUSIGNAL_HOME=$(pwd)/cusignal # Download the cuSignal repo git clone https://github.com/rapidsai/cusignal.git $CUSIGNAL_HOME
-
Download and install Anaconda or Miniconda then create the cuSignal conda environment:
Base environment (core dependencies for cuSignal)
cd $CUSIGNAL_HOME conda env create -f conda/environments/cusignal_base.yml
Full environment (including RAPIDS's cuDF, cuML, cuGraph, and PyTorch)
cd $CUSIGNAL_HOME conda env create -f conda/environments/cusignal_full.yml
-
Activate created conda environment
conda activate cusignal-dev
-
Install cuSignal module
cd $CUSIGNAL_HOME ./build.sh # install cuSignal to $PREFIX if set, otherwise $CONDA_PREFIX # run ./build.sh -h to print the supported command line options.
-
Once installed, periodically update environment
cd $CUSIGNAL_HOME conda env update -f conda/environments/cusignal_base.yml
-
Optional: Confirm unit testing via PyTest
cd $CUSIGNAL_HOME/python pytest -v # for verbose mode pytest -v -k <function name> # for more select testing
Source, Windows OS
We have confirmed that cuSignal successfully builds and runs on Windows by using CUDA on WSL. Please follow the instructions in the link to install WSL 2 and the associated CUDA drivers. You can then proceed to follow the cuSignal source build instructions, below.
-
Download and install Anaconda for Windows. In an Anaconda Prompt, navigate to your checkout of cuSignal.
-
Create cuSignal conda environment
conda create --name cusignal-dev
-
Activate conda environment
conda activate cusignal-dev
-
Install cuSignal Core Dependencies
conda install numpy numba scipy cudatoolkit pip pip install cupy-cudaXXX
Where XXX is the version of the CUDA toolkit you have installed. 11.5, for example is
cupy-cuda115
. See the CuPy Documentation for information on getting wheels for other versions of CUDA. -
Install cuSignal module
./build.sh
-
Optional: Confirm unit testing via PyTest In the cuSignal top level directory:
pip install pytest pytest-benchmark pytest
Docker - All RAPIDS Libraries, including cuSignal
cuSignal is part of the general RAPIDS docker container but can also be built using the included Dockerfile and the below instructions to build and run the container. Please note, <image>
and <tag>
are user specified, for example docker build -t cusignal:cusignal-22.12 docker/.
.
docker build -t <image>:<tag> docker/.
docker run --gpus all --rm -it <image>:<tag> /bin/bash
Please see the RAPIDS Release Selector for more information on supported Python, Linux, and CUDA versions and for the specific command to pull the generic RAPIDS container.
Documentation
The complete cuSignal API documentation including a complete list of functionality and examples can be found for both the Stable and Nightly (Experimental) releases. cuSignal has about 75% coverage of the SciPy Signal API and includes added functionality, particularly for phased array systems and speech analysis. Please search the documentation for your function of interest and file an issue if you see a gap.
cuSignal (Stable) | cuSignal (Nightly)
Notebooks and Examples
cuSignal strives for 100% coverage between features and notebook examples. While we stress GPU performance, our guiding phisolophy is based on user productivity, and it's always such a bummer when you can't quickly figure out how to use exciting new features.
Core API examples are shown in the api_guide
of our Notebooks folder. We also provide some example online and offline streaming software-defined radio examples in the srd
part of the Notebooks. See SDR Integration for more information, too.
In addition to learning about how the API works, these notebooks provide rough benchmarking metrics for user-defined parameters like window length, signal size, and datatype.
SDR Integration
SoapySDR is a "vendor neutral and platform independent" library for software-defined radio usage. When used in conjunction with device (SDR) specific modules, SoapySDR allows for easy command-and-control of radios from Python or C++. To install SoapySDR into an existing cuSignal Conda environment, run:
conda install -c conda-forge soapysdr
A full list of subsequent modules, specific to your SDR are listed here, but some common ones:
- rtlsdr:
conda install -c conda-forge soapysdr-module-rtlsdr
- Pluto SDR:
conda install -c conda-forge soapysdr-module-plutosdr
- UHD:
conda install -c conda-forge soapysdr-module-uhd
Another popular SDR library, specific to the rtl-sdr, is pyrtlsdr.
For examples using SoapySDR, pyrtlsdr, and cuSignal, please see the notebooks/sdr directory.
Please note, for most rtlsdr devices, you'll need to blacklist the libdvb driver in Linux. To do this, run sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
and add blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu
to the end of the file. Restart your computer upon completion.
If you have a SDR that isn't listed above (like the LimeSDR), don't worry! You can symbolically link the system-wide Python bindings installed via apt-get
to the local conda environment. Further, check conda-forge for any packages before installing something from source. Please file an issue if you run into any problems.
Benchmarking
cuSignal uses pytest-benchmark to compare performance between CPU and GPU signal processing implementations. To run cuSignal's benchmark suite, navigate to the topmost python directory ($CUSIGNAL_HOME/python) and run:
pytest --benchmark-enable --benchmark-gpu-disable
Benchmarks are disabled by default in setup.cfg
providing only test correctness checks.
As with the standard pytest tool, the user can use the -v
and -k
flags for verbose mode and to select a specific benchmark to run. When intrepreting the output, we recommend comparing the mean execution time reported.
To reduce columns in benchmark result's table, add --benchmark-columns=LABELS
, like --benchmark-columns=min,max,mean
.
For more information on pytest-benchmark
please visit the Usage Guide.
Parameter --benchmark-gpu-disable
is to disable memory checks from Rapids GPU benchmark tool.
Doing so speeds up benchmarking.
If you wish to skip benchmarks of SciPy functions add -m "not cpu"
Lastly, benchmarks will be executed on local files. Therefore to test recent changes made to source, rebuild cuSignal.
Example
pytest -k upfirdn2d -m "not cpu" --benchmark-enable --benchmark-gpu-disable --benchmark-columns=mean
Output
cusignal/test/test_filtering.py .................. [100%]
---------- benchmark 'UpFirDn2d': 18 tests -----------
Name (time in us, mem in bytes) Mean
------------------------------------------------------
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[-1-1-3-256] 195.2299 (1.0)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[-1-9-3-256] 196.1766 (1.00)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[-1-1-7-256] 196.2881 (1.01)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[0-2-3-256] 196.9984 (1.01)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[0-9-3-256] 197.5675 (1.01)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[0-1-7-256] 197.9015 (1.01)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[-1-9-7-256] 198.0923 (1.01)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[-1-2-7-256] 198.3325 (1.02)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[0-2-7-256] 198.4676 (1.02)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[0-9-7-256] 198.6437 (1.02)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[0-1-3-256] 198.7477 (1.02)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[-1-2-3-256] 200.1589 (1.03)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[-1-2-2-256] 213.0316 (1.09)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[0-1-2-256] 213.0944 (1.09)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[-1-9-2-256] 214.6168 (1.10)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[0-2-2-256] 214.6975 (1.10)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[-1-1-2-256] 216.4033 (1.11)
test_upfirdn2d_gpu[0-9-2-256] 217.1675 (1.11)
------------------------------------------------------
Contributing Guide
Review the CONTRIBUTING.md file for information on how to contribute code and issues to the project. The TL;DR, as applicable to cuSignal, is to fork our repository to your own project space, implement a feature, and submit a PR against cuSignal's main
branch from your fork.
If you notice something broken with cuSignal or have a feature request -- whether for a new function to be added or for additional performance, please file an issue. We love to hear feedback, whether positive or negative.
cuSignal Blogs and Talks
- cuSignal - GPU Accelerating SciPy Signal with Numba and CuPy cuSignal - SciPy 2020 - Recording
- Announcement Talk - GTC DC 2019 - Recording | Slides
- GPU Accelerated Signal Processing with cuSignal - Adam Thompson - Medium
- cuSignal 0.13 - Entering the Big Leagues and Focused on Screamin' Streaming Performance - Adam Thompson - Medium
- cuSignal: Easy CUDA GPU Acceleration for SDR DSP and Other Applications - RTL-SDR.com
- cuSignal on the AIR-T - Deepwave Digital
- Detecting, Labeling, and Recording Training Data with the AIR-T and cuSignal - Deepwave Digital
- Signal Processing and Deep Learning - Deepwave Digital
- cuSignal and CyberRadio Demonstrate GPU Accelerated SDR - Andrew Back - LimeMicro
- cuSignal IEEE ICASSP 2021 Tutorial
- Follow the latest cuSignal Announcements on Twitter