An Architectural Comparison of Dataflow Systems

A Distributed Computer System, or DCS, based on the dataflow model of computation has the potential to concurrently execute a large number of tasks employing potentially thousands of processors. Since control has to be distributed and asynchronous in such a DCS, several new challenges appear in the design of processors, momory, and interconnection networks. Some of the challenges in the design of processors is presented in this article. An architectural comparison of seven dataflow processors based on sixteen criteria forms the major part of the article.

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