ASP: a parallel computing technology
R.M. Lea · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1990
ASP modules constitute the basis of a parallel computing technology platform for the rapid development of a broad range of numeric and symbolic information processing systems. Based on off-the-shelf general-purpose hardware and software modules, ASP technology is intended to increase productivity in the development (and competitiveness in the marketing) of cost-effective low-MIMD/high-SIMD Massively Parallel Processor (MPPs). The paper discusses ASP module philosophy and demonstrates how ASP modules can satisfy the market, algorithmic, architectural and engineering requirements of such MPPs. In particular, two specific ASP modules, based on VLSI and WSI technologies, are studied as case examples of ASP technology; the latter reporting 1 TOPS/ft3, 1 GOPS/W and 1 MOPS/$ as ball-park figures-of-merit of cost-effectiveness.