GPU bucket sort algorithm with applications to nearest-neighbour search

Abstract

We present an adoption of the bucket sort algorithm capable of running entirely on GPU architecture. Our implementation employs render-to-texture to enable scatter operation. Linked lists of elements in each bucket are build and stored directly in video memory. We show also the use of this sorting method in a particle-based simulation. Dissipative Particle Dynamics is the physical model of choice; the simulation is performed entirely on the graphics hardware. GPU bucket sorting is used to build nearest-neighbour maps on a regular cell-grid which are the input of interparticle interaction computation. Finally we implement a simple random-number generator which is required by the DPD method.