A MASSIVELY-PARALLEL KNOWLEDGE-BASE SERVER USING A HYPERCUBE MULTIPROCESSOR

In this paper we study the parallel implementation of a traditional fr ame based knowledge representation system for a general purpose massiv ely parallel hypercube architecture (such as the Connection Machine CM -2). We show that, using a widely available parallel system (instead o f a special purpose architecture), it is possible to provide multiple users with efficient shared access to a large scale knowledge-base. Pa rallel algorithms are presented for answering multiple inference, asse rt and retract queries on both single and multiple inheritance hierarc hies. In addition to theoretical time complexity analysis, empirical r esults obtained from extensive testing of a prototype implementation a re presented.