Shared-memory optical/electronic computer: architecture and control

The design of a parallel digital computer architecture, the shared-memory optical/electronic computer (SMOEG), and its associated control algorithms are presented. The design is based on the shared-memory model of computation and incorporates an optical interconnection network as an essential element. The arthitecture consists of a novel passive optical shuffle-exchange network, which is detailed in another paper [Appl. Opt. 33, (1994)], that interconnects electronic processing elements with electronic memory modules and incorporates network control. Improved capability of this optical–electronic multiple-instruction multiple-data (MIMD) architecture over fully electronic implementations stems from the reduced complexity inherent in the optical interconnection network and the resulting memory access capability. In this system the simultaneous development of three main design facets, architecture, hardware, and control algorithms, is crucial in designing an efficient high-performance system.