High-performance, Dependable Multiprocessor

With the ever-increasing demand for higher bandwidth and processing capacity of today´s space exploration, space science, and defense missions, the ability to efficiently apply commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) processors for on-board computing is now a critical need. In response to this need, NASA´s new millennium program office has commissioned the development of Dependable Multiprocessor (DM) technology for use in payload and robotic missions. The Dependable Multiprocessor technology is a COTS-based, power-efficient, high-performance, highly dependable, fault-tolerant cluster computer. To date, Honeywell has successfully demonstrated a TRL4 prototype of the Dependable Multiprocessor (Ramos et al., 2005), and is now working on the development of a TRL5 prototype. For the present effort Honeywell has teamed up with the University of Florida via its high-performance computing and simulation (HCS) research laboratory, and together the team has demonstrated major elements of the Dependable Multiprocessor TRL5 system. This paper provides a detailed description of the basic Dependable Multiprocessor technology, and the TRL5 technology prototype currently under development