Special Purpose vs. General Purpose Hardware for DA

This workshop will explore the need for special hardware as an aid to the user of Computer Aided Design. Traditionally, all CAD work has been done by general purpose computers which are not tailored to all the special needs of CAD. However, recently advances have been made in understanding how special hardware can help solve some of the unique problems associated with graphics, simulation and other types of analysis. The tradeoffs that occur when examining special vs. general purpose hardware are generally performance vs. flexibility, and performance vs. cost. Also, the expandibility of the general purpose approach has been a strong motivating factor. However, recent advances in high-speed, distributed networks may make it possible to have the best of both approaches.