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U.S. Department of Energy
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Parallel computer graphics algorithms for the Connection Machine

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6937908

Many of the classes of computer graphics algorithms and polygon storage schemes can be adapted for parallel execution on various parallel architectures. The connection machine is one such architecture that should be thought of as a multiprocessor grid that can be reconfigured into standard 2-dimensional mesh and n-dimensional hypercube architectures. The classes of algorithms considered in this paper are SPLINES; POLYGON STORAGE; TRIANGULARIZATION; and SYMBOLIC INPUT. The target Connection Machine (hearafter designated as CM) for the algorithms of this paper has 8192 physical processors. Each physical processor has 8 kilobytes of local memory plus an arithmetic-logic unit. All processors can communicate with any other processor through a router. Thus this CM has a shared memory of 64 megabytes when used as a standard multiprocessor (MIMD) architecture. In addition, the CM interconnection structure can simulate a 2-dimensional mesh and n-dimensional hypercube (SIMD) architecture with the mesh being the default architecture. The front end for the CM is a Symbolics and the high level language is LISP or FORTRAN.

Research Organization:
Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA (USA)
OSTI ID:
6937908
Report Number(s):
AD-A-217300/3/XAB
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English