Architectural and design perspectives in a modular multi-microprocessor, the DPS-1

Abstract

For the last decade, one of the most active and exciting areas in computer architecture is the interconnection of computers to form parallel or concurrent systems. These systems are generally called "multiprocessors" or "distributed processors" and may range in organization from processors sharing a common memory to geographically isolated computer installations connected as a network. The low cost and ease of implementation of LSI microprocessors make them extremely attractive design possibilities for the implementation of general-purpose multiprocessor systems. Furthermore, the MOS technology used to implement the majority of microprocessors limits the instruction execution rates such that many applications are compute bound rather than limited by other system bandwidths. This indicates that a number of microprocessors may be effectively interconnected to increase the general system performance.