HERMES AUTONOMOUS VISION SYSTEM - THE FLAT QUADTREE MODEL

This paper deals with the modeling of an extended quartet(a) multiproc essor kernel used for the evaluation of the Hermes system. Hermes is a multiprocessor hybrid system architecture used as a machine vision sy stem. The functionality of Hermes requires an asynchronous information flow upwards and downwards, where ''orders'' (in a form of code and d ata) go down and ''abstracted'' or processed picture information goes up along the system's hierarchy. Moreover, the overall functional beha vior of the Hermes system can be considered as an extended quartet ker nel in an abstracted manner. The extended quartet kernel studied here presents either a memory-to-memory (M-M) or a bus-to-bus (B-B) connect ivity. The evaluation of these two kernel's configurations (M-M, B-B) defines that the structural design of the Hermes system will be based on the M-M scheme. When failures occur on the quartet kernel, however, the M-M scheme will be converted into a B-B one by using a failure re covery procedure. The evaluation of the quartet kernel configurations is based on a probabilistic model. Failures and recovery procedures on the quartet kernel are discussed and the performance evaluation of th e kernel (under failures) is also provided.