A multi-microprocessor implementation of a general purpose pipelined CPU

Abstract

This paper discusses and shows by example the potential of a network of microprogrammable microprocessors as a cost-effective alternative to traditional hardwired medium- and large-scale mainframes. While biased towards vector processing, this system is not intended to compete with multi-million dollar supercomputers such as the 360/195, CDC STAR, Illiac IV, CRAY-1, TI ASC, etc., which use special algorithms and the fastest circuitry available. The architecture incorporates pipelining, multiprocessing and distributed processing techniques with bipolar microprocessor technology. The result should be a machine which will equal or outperform most traditional third- and fourth-generation mainframes at a fraction of the CPU cost. This should be the case even for scalar, general purpose computation.