The SNAP-1 parallel AI prototype

The Semantic Network Array Processor (SNAP) is a parallel architecture for knowledge representation and reasoning that uses the marker-propagation paradigm. The primary application areas of SNAP are natural language understanding and speech processing. A first-generation SNAP-1 system has been designed and constructed using an array of 144 digital signal processors organized as 32 multiprocessing clusters with dedicated communication units, a tiered synchronization scheme, and multiported memory network. Issues in the design, performance, and scalability of a marker-propagation architecture are addressed.<
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