A multi-level data-flow architecture for signal and data processing applications. Final report

A grant was awarded to us by the Department of Energy, Office of Energy Research, in May 1987 to support the design and performance analysis of a large grain data-driven multiprocessor system for numerical applications. The basic idea of the work is to apply the data-driven principles of execution at a more appropriate level than conventional ``atomic`` instructions. For this purpose, a level such as that of vector operations was under study. This document represents the final report concerning the results of the research supported by this grant. The goals of the project entailed an analysis of Partial Differential Equation solvers on data-driven environments, a preliminary design of our multi-level architecture, an in-depth study of some of the mechanisms of execution, and a design of the software environment. As enumerated in the original proposal, our work has yielded results in three different domain: Specifications of the application programs; design of the general concepts of the architecture and simulation; implementation of a translating environment; and we discuss each of the above items and examine specific research results.