Author_Institution :
Thinking Machines Corp., Cambridge, MA, USA
Abstract :
The concept of data-parallel computers is explained, and their architecture of the Connection Machine (CM), which implements this approach, is described. It provides 64 K physical processing elements, millions of virtual processing elements with its virtual processor mechanism, and general-purpose, reconfigurable communications networks. The evolution of the CM architecture is examined, and the software environment, engineering and physical characteristics, and performance of the current embodiment (the CM-2) are discussed. Applications of the CM to molecular dynamics, VLSI design and circuit simulation, and computer vision are described.<>
Keywords :
circuit CAD; computer vision; parallel architectures; parallel machines; physics computing; programming environments; 64 K; CM-2; Connection Machine; VLSI design; circuit simulation; computer vision; data-parallel computers; molecular dynamics; physical processing elements; reconfigurable communications networks; software environment; virtual processing elements; virtual processor; Application software; Computer architecture; Computer displays; Computer graphics; Concurrent computing; Costs; Hardware; Parallel processing; Parallel programming;
