Proto-cluster: A Parallel Computer Architecture Based on Prototyping Boards

Nowadays, there is an ongoing renaissance in the development of parallel architectures. Modern multi-core CPUs, grid and cluster systems, and GPU architectures offer high performance, but their cost is very high. The objective of every hardware designer is constructing parallel architectures with solid performance and low cost. The prototyping platforms are characterized by low cost and high flexibility. Although the use of prototyping platforms in the development of parallel architectures is not typical the mentioned characteristics predestine them for emulation and prototyping of parallel architectures. This paper deals with the issue of parallel computer systems based on different types of prototype platforms. It presents our solution to design a low-cost parallel environment, a proto-cluster to support computational problem-solving by applying principles of task decomposition.