A multiprocessor architecture for high-rate communication processing

The author presents a general-purpose multiprocessor architecture which accommodates an I/O bandwidth of many Gb/s through the use of VRAM in the main memory. The virtual port memory architecture is a global-memory-message-passing multiprocessor which is well suited to I/O-intensive real-time processing. This bus-based architecture permits incremental adjustments in I/O bandwidth, memory size, and processing power by simply adding or removing I/O controllers, memory modules, and processors. This architecture is described, followed by an analysis of its performance in handling various communication processing tasks, including the 4*300 Mb/s data stream at the NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) ground terminal.<
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