RSM - A RESTRICTED SHARED-MEMORY ARCHITECTURE FOR HIGH-SPEED INTERPROCESSOR COMMUNICATION

A restricted shared memory (RSM) architecture is presented which emplo ys dual-port memory blocks for high speed interprocessor communication . The dual-port memory blocks are connected to processor buses in a tr iangular matrix for full processor connectivity. Multiple pairs of pro cessors can communicate concurrently as a dedicated dual-port memory b lock connects each processor pair. The prototype RSM is developed for a cluster of five transputers1 which provides a contention-free medium for message passing and data sharing. Several data transfer protocols including general, overlapped and broadcast, are implemented and thei r performance is evaluated. A message can be broadcast to all or selec ted processors in a single step. The RSM architecture is also fault to lerant in terms of fault containment and isolation of faulty units.