Geometric-Arithmetic Parallel Processor
Encyclopedia
The GAPP invented by Polish
mathematician
Włodzimierz Holsztyński in 1981, was patented by Martin Marietta
and is now owned by Silicon Optix
, Inc. In terms of network topology
, the GAPP is a mesh-connected array of single bit SIMD
processing elements (PEs), where each PE can communicate with its neighbor to the north, east, south, and west. Each cell has its own memory. The space of addresses is the same for all cells. The data travels from the cell memories to the cells' registers, and in the opposite direction, in parallel. Characteristically, the cell's ALU (i.e. its PE) in the early versions of GAPP was nothing but a full 1-bit adder/subtractor, which efficiently served both the complex arithmetic as well as logical functions, and with the help of shifts it served also the geometric transformations--in short, it was doing all three types of the tasks (while other designs used three separate hardware special purpose units instead).
In its most recent incarnation (as of 2004), the systems by Teranex utilize GAPP arrays of up to 294,912 processing elements.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
mathematician
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
Włodzimierz Holsztyński in 1981, was patented by Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. The...
and is now owned by Silicon Optix
Silicon Optix
Silicon Optix Inc was a privately held fabless semiconductor company that designed and manufactured video/image digital processing integrated circuits. Originally a division of Genesis Microchip, Silicon Optix was spun off in 2001 by Paul Russo, the CEO of Genesis Microchip at the time...
, Inc. In terms of network topology
Network topology
Network topology is the layout pattern of interconnections of the various elements of a computer or biological network....
, the GAPP is a mesh-connected array of single bit SIMD
SIMD
Single instruction, multiple data , is a class of parallel computers in Flynn's taxonomy. It describes computers with multiple processing elements that perform the same operation on multiple data simultaneously...
processing elements (PEs), where each PE can communicate with its neighbor to the north, east, south, and west. Each cell has its own memory. The space of addresses is the same for all cells. The data travels from the cell memories to the cells' registers, and in the opposite direction, in parallel. Characteristically, the cell's ALU (i.e. its PE) in the early versions of GAPP was nothing but a full 1-bit adder/subtractor, which efficiently served both the complex arithmetic as well as logical functions, and with the help of shifts it served also the geometric transformations--in short, it was doing all three types of the tasks (while other designs used three separate hardware special purpose units instead).
In its most recent incarnation (as of 2004), the systems by Teranex utilize GAPP arrays of up to 294,912 processing elements.