A MULTIPROCESSOR EMULATION FACILITY

Interest in multiprocessor computer architectures has increased dramatically in the last ten years. However, it has become clear that, in order to effectively use multiprocessors in a general way, some fundamental changes in the model of computation are necessary. Moreover, experimentation in the field is hindered by low-performance simulation tools and high-cost hardware modeling schemes. We present our approach to solving both of these problems: Dataflow Architecture, which provides an inherently parallel model of computation, and a Multiprocessor Emulation Facility, which is a general purpose tool for evaluating multiprocessor architectures at low cost. We also discuss our scheme for using the Emulation Facility to validate our claims about dataflow architecture.