Forward chaining parallel inference

The paper describes the completed and ongoing efforts of the Parallel Inferencing Performance Evaluation and Refinement project (PIPER). The PIPER inference engine is based on the Merit Enhanced Traversal Engine (METE) algorithm which is an extension of Forgy´s (1979) RETE algorithm. To evaluate the efficacy of this design and implementation, an iterating 108 rule knowledge base was composed. This rule set was designed to roughly simulate the information rich nature of its target application domain, Strategic Defense Initiative contact discrimination, and was processed on from 7 to 89 Butterfly Plus processor nodes. Three uniprocessor control groups were also employed to gauge speed-up. Using the control group which produced the most conservation speed-up factors, the Phase I inference engine achieved a maximum true speed-up in excess of 31 utilizing 45 processors