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NASA NTRS1989

Eigensolution of finite element problems in a completely connected parallel architecture

A parallel algorithm is presented for the solution of the generalized eigenproblem in linear elastic finite element analysis. The algorithm is based on a completely connected parallel architecture in which each processor is allowed to communicate with all other processors. The algorithm is successfully implemented on a tightly coupled MIMD parallel processor. A finite element model is divided into m domains each of which is assumed to process n elements. Each domain is then assigned to a processor or to a logical processor (task) if the number of domains exceeds the number of physical processors. The effect of the number of domains, the number of degrees-of-freedom located along the global fronts, and the dimension of the subspace on the performance of the algorithm is investigated. For a 64-element rectangular plate, speed-ups of 1.86, 3.13, 3.18, and 3.61 are achieved on two, four, six, and eight processors, respectively.

Akl, F.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Parallel processing techniques for finite element analysis of nonlinear large truss structures

Methods were developed for parallel processing of finite element solutions of large truss structures. The parallel processing techniques were implemented in two stages, i.e., the repeated forming of the nonlinear global stiffness matrix and the solving of the global system of equations. The Sequent Balance 21000 parallel computer was employed to demonstrate the procedures and the speed-up.

Chien, L. S.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Programming parallel architectures - The BLAZE family of languages

This paper gives an overview of the various approaches to programming multiprocessor architectures that are currently being explored. It is argued that two of these approaches, interactive programming environments and functional parallel languages, are particularly attractive, since they remove much of the burden of exploiting parallel architectures from the user. This paper also describes recent work in the design of parallel languages. Research on languages for both shared and nonshared memory multiprocessors is described.

Mehrotra, Piyush↗

NASA NTRS1989

A class of parallel algorithms for computation of the manipulator inertia matrix

Parallel and parallel/pipeline algorithms for computation of the manipulator inertia matrix are presented. An algorithm based on composite rigid-body spatial inertia method, which provides better features for parallelization, is used for the computation of the inertia matrix. Two parallel algorithms are developed which achieve the time lower bound in computation. Also described is the mapping of these algorithms with topological variation on a two-dimensional processor array, with nearest-neighbor connection, and with cardinality variation on a linear processor array. An efficient parallel/pipeline algorithm for the linear array was also developed, but at significantly higher efficiency.

Fijany, Amir↗

NASA NTRS1990

Parallel Architecture For Robotics Computation

Universal Real-Time Robotic Controller and Simulator (URRCS) is highly parallel computing architecture for control and simulation of robot motion. Result of extensive algorithmic study of different kinematic and dynamic computational problems arising in control and simulation of robot motion. Study led to development of class of efficient parallel algorithms for these problems. Represents algorithmically specialized architecture, in sense capable of exploiting common properties of this class of parallel algorithms. System with both MIMD and SIMD capabilities. Regarded as processor attached to bus of external host processor, as part of bus memory.

Fijany, Amir↗

NASA NTRS1988

Parallel algorithms for interactive manipulation of digital terrain models

Interactive three-dimensional graphics applications, such as terrain data representation and manipulation, require extensive arithmetic processing. Massively parallel machines are attractive for this application since they offer high computational rates, and grid connected architectures provide a natural mapping for grid based terrain models. Presented here are algorithms for data movement on the massive parallel processor (MPP) in support of pan and zoom functions over large data grids. It is an extension of earlier work that demonstrated real-time performance of graphics functions on grids that were equal in size to the physical dimensions of the MPP. When the dimensions of a data grid exceed the processing array size, data is packed in the array memory. Windows of the total data grid are interactively selected for processing. Movement of packed data is needed to distribute items across the array for efficient parallel processing. Execution time for data movement was found to exceed that for arithmetic aspects of graphics functions. Performance figures are given for routines written in MPP Pascal.

Davis, E. W.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Scan line graphics generation on the massively parallel processor

Described here is how researchers implemented a scan line graphics generation algorithm on the Massively Parallel Processor (MPP). Pixels are computed in parallel and their results are applied to the Z buffer in large groups. To perform pixel value calculations, facilitate load balancing across the processors and apply the results to the Z buffer efficiently in parallel requires special virtual routing (sort computation) techniques developed by the author especially for use on single-instruction multiple-data (SIMD) architectures.

Dorband, John E.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Parallel algorithm for determining motion vectors in ice floe images by matching edge features

A parallel algorithm is described to determine motion vectors of ice floes using time sequences of images of the Arctic ocean obtained from the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument flown on-board the SEASAT spacecraft. Researchers describe a parallel algorithm which is implemented on the MPP for locating corresponding objects based on their translationally and rotationally invariant features. The algorithm first approximates the edges in the images by polygons or sets of connected straight-line segments. Each such edge structure is then reduced to a seed point. Associated with each seed point are the descriptions (lengths, orientations and sequence numbers) of the lines constituting the corresponding edge structure. A parallel matching algorithm is used to match packed arrays of such descriptions to identify corresponding seed points in the two images. The matching algorithm is designed such that fragmentation and merging of ice floes are taken into account by accepting partial matches. The technique has been demonstrated to work on synthetic test patterns and real image pairs from SEASAT in times ranging from .5 to 0.7 seconds for 128 x 128 images.

Manohar, M.↗

NASA NTRS1990

The cost of conservative synchronization in parallel discrete event simulations

The performance of a synchronous conservative parallel discrete-event simulation protocol is analyzed. The class of simulation models considered is oriented around a physical domain and possesses a limited ability to predict future behavior. A stochastic model is used to show that as the volume of simulation activity in the model increases relative to a fixed architecture, the complexity of the average per-event overhead due to synchronization, event list manipulation, lookahead calculations, and processor idle time approach the complexity of the average per-event overhead of a serial simulation. The method is therefore within a constant factor of optimal. The analysis demonstrates that on large problems--those for which parallel processing is ideally suited--there is often enough parallel workload so that processors are not usually idle. The viability of the method is also demonstrated empirically, showing how good performance is achieved on large problems using a thirty-two node Intel iPSC/2 distributed memory multiprocessor.

Nicol, David M.↗

NASA NTRS1989

On the parallel solution of parabolic equations

Parallel algorithms for the solution of linear parabolic problems are proposed. The first of these methods is based on using polynomial approximation to the exponential. It does not require solving any linear systems and is highly parallelizable. The two other methods proposed are based on Pade and Chebyshev approximations to the matrix exponential. The parallelization of these methods is achieved by using partial fraction decomposition techniques to solve the resulting systems and thus offers the potential for increased time parallelism in time dependent problems. Experimental results from the Alliant FX/8 and the Cray Y-MP/832 vector multiprocessors are also presented.

Gallopoulos, E.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Parallelization of implicit finite difference schemes in computational fluid dynamics

Implicit finite difference schemes are often the preferred numerical schemes in computational fluid dynamics, requiring less stringent stability bounds than the explicit schemes. Each iteration in an implicit scheme involves global data dependencies in the form of second and higher order recurrences. Efficient parallel implementations of such iterative methods are considerably more difficult and non-intuitive. The parallelization of the implicit schemes that are used for solving the Euler and the thin layer Navier-Stokes equations and that require inversions of large linear systems in the form of block tri-diagonal and/or block penta-diagonal matrices is discussed. Three-dimensional cases are emphasized and schemes that minimize the total execution time are presented. Partitioning and scheduling schemes for alleviating the effects of the global data dependencies are described. An analysis of the communication and the computation aspects of these methods is presented. The effect of the boundary conditions on the parallel schemes is also discussed.

Decker, Naomi H.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Overcoming rule-based rigidity and connectionist limitations through massively-parallel case-based reasoning

Symbol manipulation as used in traditional Artificial Intelligence has been criticized by neural net researchers for being excessively inflexible and sequential. On the other hand, the application of neural net techniques to the types of high-level cognitive processing studied in traditional artificial intelligence presents major problems as well. A promising way out of this impasse is to build neural net models that accomplish massively parallel case-based reasoning. Case-based reasoning, which has received much attention recently, is essentially the same as analogy-based reasoning, and avoids many of the problems leveled at traditional artificial intelligence. Further problems are avoided by doing many strands of case-based reasoning in parallel, and by implementing the whole system as a neural net. In addition, such a system provides an approach to some aspects of the problems of noise, uncertainty and novelty in reasoning systems. The current neural net system (Conposit), which performs standard rule-based reasoning, is being modified into a massively parallel case-based reasoning version.

Barnden, John↗

NASA NTRS1990

Survey of coherent ion reflection at the quasi-parallel bow shock

This paper presents the results of a survey of ion beam observations near the earth's quasi-parallel bow shock. Particular attention is given to three issues: (1) the spatial locations of the cold coherent ion beams relative to the shock, (2) the velocity space locations of the ion beams relative to that expected for specular reflection, and (3) the parameter regimes over which the beams are observed. Evidence is found that coherent ion reflection occurs commonly in the quasi-parallel regime, over essentially the full range of upstream plasma parameters normally found at the earth's bow shock. It was also observed that the cold coherent reflected beams spread rapidly in the velocity space upstream from the shock. The observations presented serve as an extension to those presented by Gosling et al. (1989) and further strengthen the conclusion that specularly reflected ions are contributing directly to the downstream thermalization at the earth's quasi-parallel bow shock.

Onsager, T. G.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Effects of error sources on the parallelism of an optical matrix-vector processor

The error sources in a high accuracy optical matrix-vector processor are analyzed by numerical simulation in terms of their effects on the parallelism and speed of the processor. These effects are detailed for radices -2, -4 and -8. Radix -4 is shown to provide maximum parallel processing capabilities under the effects of the system's error sources. Processing speed is shown to be a function of matrix partitioning and the number of parallel processing channels. Consequently, radix -4 operation provides a higher processing speed than radix -2 and -8 for most matrix-vector multiplications when error source effects are considered.

Perlee, Caroline J.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Giotto magnetic field observations at the outbound quasi-parallel bow shock of Comet Halley

The investigation of the outbound bow shock of Comet Halley using Giotto magnetometer data leads to the following results: the shock is characterized by strong magnetic turbulence associated with an increasing background magnetic field and a change in direction by 60 deg as one goes inward. In HSE-coordinates, the observed normal turned out to be (0.544, - 0.801, 0.249). The thickness of the quasi-parallel shock was 120,000 km. The shock is shown to be a new type of shock transition called a 'draping shock'. In a draping shock with high beta in the transonic transition region, the transonic region is characterized by strong directional variations of the magnetic field. The magnetic turbulence ahead of the shock is characterized by k-vectors parallel or antiparallel to the average field (and, therefore, also to the normal of the quasi-parallel shock) and almost isotropic magnetic turbulence in the shock transition region. A model of the draping shock is proposed which also includes a hypothetical subshock in which the supersonic-subsonic transition is accomplished.

Neubauer, F. M.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Algorithmically Specialized Parallel Architecture For Robotics

Computing system called Robot Mathematics Processor (RMP) contains large number of processor elements (PE's) connected in various parallel and serial combinations reconfigurable via software. Special-purpose architecture designed for solving diverse computational problems in robot control, simulation, trajectory generation, workspace analysis, and like. System an MIMD-SIMD parallel architecture capable of exploiting parallelism in different forms and at several computational levels. Major advantage lies in design of cells, which provides flexibility and reconfigurability superior to previous SIMD processors.

Fijany, Amir↗

NASA NTRS1990

A conservative approach to parallelizing the Sharks World simulation

Parallelizing a benchmark problem for parallel simulation, the Sharks World, is described. The described solution is conservative, in the sense that no state information is saved, and no 'rollbacks' occur. The used approach illustrates both the principal advantage and principal disadvantage of conservative parallel simulation. The advantage is that by exploiting lookahead an approach was found that dramatically improves the serial execution time, and also achieves excellent speedups. The disadvantage is that if the model rules are changed in such a way that the lookahead is destroyed, it is difficult to modify the solution to accommodate the changes.

Nicol, David M.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Performance of a parallel code for the Euler equations on hypercube computers

The performance of hypercubes were evaluated on a computational fluid dynamics problem and the parallel environment issues were considered that must be addressed, such as algorithm changes, implementation choices, programming effort, and programming environment. The evaluation focuses on a widely used fluid dynamics code, FLO52, which solves the two dimensional steady Euler equations describing flow around the airfoil. The code development experience is described, including interacting with the operating system, utilizing the message-passing communication system, and code modifications necessary to increase parallel efficiency. Results from two hypercube parallel computers (a 16-node iPSC/2, and a 512-node NCUBE/ten) are discussed and compared. In addition, a mathematical model of the execution time was developed as a function of several machine and algorithm parameters. This model accurately predicts the actual run times obtained and is used to explore the performance of the code in interesting but yet physically realizable regions of the parameter space. Based on this model, predictions about future hypercubes are made.

Barszcz, Eric↗