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Showing papers on "Systems architecture published in 1976"


Book ChapterDOI
01 Apr 1976
TL;DR: The structure of n-dimensional information theory is well adapted to the study of complex systems of many parts interacting in a nonsimple way, since it allows quantifications of the degree to which the parts are interdependent.
Abstract: The structure of n-dimensional information theory is well adapted to the study of complex systems of many parts interacting in a nonsimple way, since it allows quantifications of the degree to which the parts are interdependent, i.e., are in communication with each other. It is particularly well suited to hierarchical systems. Even when calculations are impossible, informal interpretations of informational equations shed interesting light on the behavior of systems. These informal interpretations are emphasized. It is shown that the requirements on a system for selection of appropriate information (and therefore blockage of irrelevant information), internal coordination of parts, and throughput are essentially additive and therefore compete for the computational resources of the system. This observation has implications for system architecture. It is shown that under certain assumptions (valid, for example, for networks of parallel processors) systems are constraintlosing as well as information-losing. The importance and usefulness of the loss of information by a system is discussed briefly.

214 citations


Book
01 Jan 1976
TL;DR: The first seven chapters cover material needed for an understanding of computer organization and design as well as programming of an example computer using basic components, and the final six chapters present the organization and architecture of the separate functional units of the digital computer with an emphasis on advanced topics as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: From the Publisher: The first seven chapters cover material needed for an understanding of computer organization and design as well as programming of an example computer using basic components. The final six chapters present the organization and architecture of the separate functional units of the digital computer with an emphasis on advanced topics.

28 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that architecture can be viewed as composed of three components: physical organization; control and flow of information; and representation, interpretation and transformation of information.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe the concepts, definitions, and ideas of computer architecture and to suggest that architecture can be viewed as composed of three components: physical organization; control and flow of information; and representation, interpretation and transformation of information. This framework can accommodate diverse architectural concepts such as array processing, mieroprogramming, stack processing and tagged architecture. Architectures of some existing machines are considered and methods of associating architectural concepts with the components are established. Architecture design problems and trade-offs are discussed in terms of the proposed framework.

27 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
17 Jan 1976
TL;DR: A system architecture which allows a high degree of restructuring so that system resources may be tailored to processing requirements and several examples illustrate the utility of the proposed architecture.
Abstract: This paper introduces a system architecture which allows a high degree of restructuring so that system resources may be tailored to processing requirements. The proposed system organization consists of a large number of byte-slice processors interconnected through a system of busses. Each processor is capable of communicating with every other processor in the system and any number of adjacent processors may be strung together to create a wider arithmetic capability than is possible with a single processor. Processors may be organized into a number of independent teams while processor teams may, in turn, be organized in a hierarchical fashion to allow for concurrent processing. Processor teams may function either in cooperation with or completely independent of other processor teams. All communication throughout the system consists of information packets containing the data to be transferred and a series of tags which indicate the destination address for the data and the action to be taken by the processor upon receipt of the information packet. Two types of busses are employed; Conventional busses and the circulating loop (or Pierce loop). The circulating loop moves an information packet in a fixed direction a uniform distance in each unit of time and therefore allows independent data transfer operations to be carried out simultaneously. Several examples illustrate the utility of the proposed architecture.

25 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
07 Jun 1976
TL;DR: An approach to the solution to the problem of program execution time increased due to incorporation of validation and recovery procedures is introduced, and a model system architecture tailored for efficient execution of failure-tolerant parallel programs is described.
Abstract: The state-of-art in software validation as well as the continuing growth of the size and complexity of software subsystems, makes extra costs paid for software error tolerance more than justified. A program in which software redundancy is incorporated i.e. a program in which procedures for run-time validation and recovery are explicitly specified, is generally called a failure-tolerant program. One problem in failure-tolerant programming, which could be particularly serious in real-time computing environments, is the program execution time increased due to incorporation of validation and recovery procedures. This paper introduces an approach to the solution, called the failure-tolerant parallel programming. The essence of this approach is to maximally overlap main-stream computation with redundant computation oriented for validation and recovery. Subsequently, a model system architecture tailored for efficient execution of failure-tolerant parallel programs is described. It is of highly general and modular nature and contains a novel memory subsystem named the duplex memory. Directions of further researches on program structuring and expansion of the model architecture are also indicated.

15 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
13 Oct 1976
TL;DR: The software design process is discussed from an engineering point of view in terms of evolving a system architecture independently of implementation considerations and functional completeness, quality, machine independence, and performance completeness of a design are used as criteria for engineering design decisions.
Abstract: The software design process is discussed from an engineering point of view. Initially, a distinction is made between software design and program design. Software design is then described in terms of evolving a system architecture independently of implementation considerations. Computation structures are introduced as a means of modeling the dynamic behavior of a software architecture. Functional completeness, quality, machine independence, and performance completeness of a design are then used as criteria for engineering design decisions. Finally, the basic elements of a system to support the software design process are described.

12 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jun 1976
TL;DR: The experience of developing an effective approach to microcomputer education for both students and practicing engineers at the University of California, Berkeley is described.
Abstract: Microprocessors and programmable LSI circuits provide increasingly cost-effective alternatives to traditional hardwired electronic or electromechanical circuits and subsystems used in automatic control, data processing, communication, and instrumentation. The design engineer, however, must learn new skills, i.e., digital system architecture and programming, in order to take advantage of this rapidly evolving new technology. This paper describes the experience of developing an effective approach to microcomputer education for both students and practicing engineers at the University of California, Berkeley.

9 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A digital guidance and control system flight tested in a DC-10 aircraft in the summer of 1974 confirmed that system's monitoring techniques, certifiable control law performance (including automatic landing), and automated maintenance management concepts.
Abstract: A digital guidance and control system flight tested in a DC-10 aircraft in the summer of 1974 confirmed that system's monitoring techniques, certifiable control law performance (including automatic landing), and automated maintenance management concepts. It also verified compatibility of the system architecture with the aircraft's guidance/navigation sensors and redundant electrohydraulic flight control actuators. System organization, in terms of redundancy and software-hard ware monitoring, is described. Computer memory and time requirements for the various control modes and other software functions are summarized. Flight results associated with autoland performance and the system's recognition and responses to inserted failures during autoland mode engagement are described.

7 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A computer architecture, based on microprocessor concepts, which will be efficient in a total manufacturing environment involving a hierarchy of control computers, and the proposed computer would function at the lowest level of this hierarchy.
Abstract: This paper presents a history of computer control in discrete manufacturing and focuses on the computer control problem at the lowest or machine tool level. Succeeding papers will give the specifications for a control computer at this level, derive a system architecture to meet these specifications, and evaluate the computer performance when applied to a control problem. The objective of the total set of papers is to present a computer architecture, based on microprocessor concepts, which will be efficient in a total manufacturing environment involving a hierarchy of control computers. The proposed computer would function at the lowest level of this hierarchy.

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The reasoning underlying the belief that large gains in software quality will come about only through technical advances that yield simpler and more transparent program structure, provide confidence that a software product performs the intended function, and make the software design and implementation process more straightforward is discussed.
Abstract: The software problem is nearly always discussed in terms of software or administrative solutions, and the nature of the computer hardware is tacitly regarded as unchangeable or irrelevant. I believe such limited views of the software problem keep us from recognizing the fundamental limitations of the computer systems we must work with today. Important improvements in the methodology of developing very large programs will not happen in the absence of important changes in the hardware structure and organization of computer systems. In this paper I discuss the reasoning underlying my belief and indicate the directions of advance required in computer hardware to provide a better basis for the construction of reliable software. Improved administrative methods for software projects and improved technical methodologies of program construction are the main avenues advocated for reducing software cost. Better management practices can have little impact on the complexity of the product of software development. Therefore, large gains in software quality will come about only through technical advances that yield simpler and more transparent program structure, provide confidence that a software product performs the intended function, and make the software design and implementation process more straightforward. Today the most promising technical improvements in the programming process are included in a broad interpretation of that much-abused phrase \"structured programming.\" The proponents of structured programming argue for the use of a programming methodology that allows the construction of a large program to be divided into separately specified parts such that the design, programming and verification of each part involves the fewest possible interactions with the development of other parts. This is in fact a concept of program modularity-it should be possible to build large programs from simpler program parts (modules) that may be designed and implemented independently. However, it is 17

5 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
W. Rosenbluth1
TL;DR: This article presents a design automation system architecture and illustrates applications of that architecture with an LSI chip design flow and discusses system-module attributes of that Architecture as those modules are encountered in the design flow.
Abstract: This article presents a design automation system architecture and illustrates applications of that architecture with an LSI chip design flow. It discusses system-module attributes of that architecture as those modules are encountered in the design flow.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
07 Jun 1976
TL;DR: An innovative concept in multiprocessor system design is described, and some of the research areas which have not yet been resolved but which can be studied on this system are suggested.
Abstract: Multiprocessor systems are becoming increasingly popular because of the increased throughput possible and the possibility of system availability despite the failure of some of the processing units. This paper describes an innovative concept in multiprocessor system design, and suggests some of the research areas which have not yet been resolved but which can be studied on this system. The system architecture is patterned after Control Data Corporation's peripheral processor "barrel" except that it possesses much more powerful functional capabilities. In addition, high speed minicomputers were used to handle all of the system I/O requirements. Research areas for which this system is particularly appropriate include computer architecture-operating systems tradeoffs and multiprocessor operating systems design and implementation. The hardware system is entirely microprogrammable, allowing for increased flexibility in evaluating various research strategies.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
20 Oct 1976
TL;DR: In this article, a microprocessor implementation of the control of customer premises telecommunication equipment is presented and the system architecture is described and the processes run under real time control of the microprocessor are outlined.
Abstract: A microprocessor implementation of the control of customer premises telecommunication equipment is presented. The system architecture is described and the processes run under real time control of the microprocessor are outlined. The principles used in the software engineering of the microprocessor code are highlighted and the software and hardware utilities employed in the system design and debugging are explained. The use of a top down approach to this coding application reaped great rewards in terms of an efficient design effort. Maintenance considerations, a key concept in real time telecommunications applications are summarized.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A design for a Level (1) control computer, is presented and the objective is to define a system which meets the requirements of the control environment set forth in an earlier paper.
Abstract: A design for a Level (1) control computer, is presented. The objective is to define a system which meets the requirements of the control environment set forth in an earlier paper. The areas which are discussed are the input system, the output system, the memory system, and the central processing unit.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The machine‐independent programming system LEKTOR is introduced which has been used for research and developmental work in computer‐based learning since the beginning of 1974 and the most important language elements and the system architecture are described.
Abstract: This paper introduces the machine-independent programming system LEKTOR which has been used for research and developmental work in computer-based learning since the beginning of 1974. The most important language elements and the system architecture are described. Emphasis is placed upon questions of implementation, particularly with regard to the data structures and the organization and administration of the workspace.