Entwurf eines Multiprozessorsystems auf Microcontroller-Basis

| project staff | cooperation partners | project description | project structure | project software | publications |

project staff
Chair of Computer Architecture
Tobias Schubert, Dipl.-Inf.
Elke Mackensen, Dipl.-Ing. (FH)
Rolf Drechsler, Prof. Dr.
Nicole Drechsler, Dr.
cooperation partners
Chair of Computer Architecture
Thomas Albrecht
Christian Faller
Mark Jonas
Oliver Klerx
Timo Lakner

In this project a PC-based multiprocessorsystem is designed. The main processing units of the multiprocessor system are small processor-nodes (RISC-CPUs), on which the user programs run. The processor-nodes are attached to a carrier boarder. The carrier board is a large PC-ISA-card. Up to 9 processor-nodes can be attached to this kind of PC-ISA-Card. Several cards can be used in parallele in a PC. Furthermore the usage of multiple PC-ISA-cards outside of the PC is possible in so-called break-out-boxes. The communication wires between the processor-nodes are connected dynamically by a Field Programmable Interconnection Device (FPID). This FPID is controlled by a communication processor, which also is attached to the carrier board.



Characteristics of the multiprocessorsystem:

Number of processors is scalable (max. 81 units)
Communication topology (star,ring,...) is configurable per software
Communication-processor and processor-nodes can be used individually
The interface between modules is defined flexibly, i.e. processor-nodes can be replaced by increasingly powerful CPUs or other modules such as DA/AD-converter at any time
For smaller applications a european card with 4 processor-nodes is available, which can be used outside of the PC

Applications:

Measurement, and control technology
Implementation of other algorithms, e.g. genetic algorithms

Processor-Nodes

The processor-nodes are building the main processing units of the multiprocessorsystem. They are equipped with a pipelined RISC-processor produced by Microchip, the PIC17C43. An additional RAM-component is reserved for the application programs. The processor-nodes are also equipped with a serial interface, which conducts the communication between the processor-nodes.

The interface between the processor-nodes and the carrier board and communication processor is constructed so flexibly, that these can be replaced by other modules, e.g. pure memory modules or modules with increasingly powerful processors.



Characteristics of the processor-nodes:

Microchip PIC17C43 CPU
256 Byte local RAM and 4 KB local EPROM
External RAM-Bank 64K x 16 Bit
Programming in C or Assembler

Communication Processor

The major task of the communication processor is to handle the communication requests of the processor-nodes. Furthermore it has to exchange data with communication-processors of other carrier boards, handle the FPID-component and communicate with the PC. The communication processor receives the application programs for the processor-nodes from the PC, which are then transferred to the processor nodes.

Here the CISC-Processor MC68340 produced by Motorola is used as CPU. The communication-processor is constructed modularly, so that it can be replaced by another CPU-type easily.



Characteristics of the communication-processor:

MC68340-CISC-Processor
128 KB external EPROM
2 x 256 KB external RAM
Programming in C or Assembler

Software Surroundings

The software of the multiprocessorsystem can be divided into three different types: software for programming divers modules, software for debugging modules and software for completing applications. Possible operating systems are DOS, Windows 3.11, Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0.

For the programming and debugging of modules comfortable tools are provided by the manufacturers of the processors. The software for completing applications is developed in C++.





Characteristics of the software for operating applications:

Administration of multiple carrier board resp. processor-nodes
Download of practicable programs for the processor-nodes
Configuration of the communication-topology
Output of faults and results during the operation of applications

Rolf Drechsler, Prof. Dr., Nicole Drechsler, Dr., Elke Mackensen, Dipl.-Ing. (FH), Tobias Schubert, Dipl.-Inf., Bernd Becker, Prof. Dr. Design Reuse by Modularity: A Scalable Dynamical (Re)Configurable Multiprocessor System Euromicro Conference, 2000

Tobias Schubert, Dipl.-Inf., Elke Mackensen, Dipl.-Ing. (FH), Nicole Drechsler, Dr., Rolf Drechsler, Prof. Dr., Bernd Becker, Prof. Dr. Specialized Hardware for Implementation of Evolutionary Algorithms Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO), 2000

Peter Biermann, Rolf Drechsler, Prof. Dr., Bernd Becker, Prof. Dr. Modularity as key element in modern system design - a case study for industrial application of parallel processing European Design & Test Conf. User Forum, 1997