A study of the design issues in software oriented, multi-microprocessor systems

Includes bibliographical references (pages 117-127)In this thesis the issues involved in the\ud design of a software oriented, multiple\ud microprocessor system are studied. The\ud capabilities necessary to support parallel\ud programming in such systems are derived by\ud examining the styles of a variety of programming\ud languages and operating systems. It is found that multiple microprocessor\ud systems provide\ud arrangements where\ud certain amount of\ud among processors\ud code/data/resource\ud maximum parallelism in\ud each processor is allowed a\ud autonomy. Overall coordination\ud is provided through\ud sharing or the exchange of\ud messages between processors. In systems in which\ud sharing is to be the means of coordination, memory\ud shared by all processors is desirable. In systems\ud in which processors will pass messages, either\ud shared memory or systems in which each processor\ud has its own memory are suitable. System control can be implemented in either a\ud centralized or decentralized fashion, with\ud decentralization yielding greater parallelism.\ud Object orientation, or a style in which each\ud resource is made highly independent of its\ud implementation and location within the system, is\ud found to enhance the control function and ease programming complexity. To facilitate control and enhance programmability, an interconnection scheme\ud should minimize the distance between processors,\ud reduce the complexity of interfaces, and provide\ud alternative paths for fault tolerance