SOFTWARE ENGINEERING FOR NON-VON NEUMANN ARCHITECTURES

CURRENT COMPUTER SYSTEM APPLICATIONS FEATURE CONTINUALLY INCREASING COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS WHICH HAVE BECOME UNFEASIBLE OR UNREALIZEABLE USING CONVENTIONAL VON NEUMANN UNIPROCESSOR TECHNIQUES. NON-VON NEUMANN ARCHITECTURES FEATURING MULTIPLE PROCESSING ELEMENTS OFFER SOLUTIONS THAT ACHIEVE THE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS. HOWEVER, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY REMAINS ORIENTED TOWARDS VON NEUMANN METHODOLOGIES. THIS, COUPLED WITH THE APPLICATIONS SPECIFIC NATURE OF NON-VON NEUMANN ARCHITECTURES, HAS RESULTED IN A FRAGMENTED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ENVIRONMENT. CONSEQUENTLY, SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT CAN BE SUBOPTIMAL OR EVEN UNSUCCESSFUL. THIS STUDY FOCUSES ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE LIFE CYCLES OF CURRENT NONVON NEUMANN ARCHITECTURES. INDIVIDUAL ARCHITECTURES AND ASSOCIATED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING TOOLS AND METHODOLOGIES WILL BE IDENTIFIED AND ASSESSED. THESE INDIVIDUAL SOFTWARE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIES WILL THEN BE CORRELATED TO GENERATE THE POLICIES AND TECHNOLOGICAL DATABASE OF A UNIFIED NON-VON NEUMANN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING METHODOLOGY. THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY WILL SUPPORT CURRENT AND FUTURE APPLICATIONS PROGRAMS BY PROVIDING GROUND RULES TO ARCHITECTURESELECTION AND SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE LIFE CYCLE DEFINITION. THE STUDY WILL ALSO PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF CURRENT SOFTWARE ENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGIES FOR MORE EFFICIENT APPLICATIONS PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION.