The MGAP-2: an advanced, massively parallel VLSI signal processor

The micro-grain array processor (MGAP) is a family of two-dimensional, micro-grained array processors. The processor cell architecture is extremely compact and simple, ensuring fine grainness, a very high processor density, and programming flexibility. Flexibility is maintained through a programmable interconnect which clusters array cells into larger computational units. We discuss the design and optimization issues of the MGAP-2, both at the processor array and system levels. Various design strategies and tradeoffs are being investigated at both levels. We show how lessons learned from building and using the MGAP-1 have been applied in this new design effort. We also describe our MGAP programming environment and an application example-the two-dimensional discrete cosine transform, a powerful image compression tool.