EMBEDDED TRANSPUTER-BASED SYSTEM DESIGN

TO DATE, MOST SAFETY-CRITICAL APPLICATIONS OF SPECIAL PURPOSE PROBLEM-ORIENTED MULTIPROCESSOR CONFIGURATIONS HAVE RELIED ON WELLKNOWN, SIMPLISTIC STRATEGIES FOR ENSURING SATISFIABILITY OF CONSTRAINTS SUCH AS FREEDOM FROM DEADLOCK AND LIVELOCK, FAIRNESS AND REAL-TIME RESPONSIVENESS; HOWEVER SUCH STRATEGIES ARE OFTEN INEFFICIENT IN IMPLEMENTATION. WE WILL DEMONSTRATE THAT MATHEMATICAL THEORIES OF CONCURRENCY ALLOW THE VERIFICATION OF COMPLEX MULTIPROCESSOR CONFIGURATIONS, AND THAT THESE TECHNIQUES CAN BE APPLIED TO SUBSTANTIAL PROBLEMS. IN PHASE I, WE PROPOSE A LIFE-SIZE CASE STUDY INVOLVING NETWORKS OF TRANSPUTERS AND A SIGNAL-ANALYSIS PROBLEM. AS THE SPECIFIC EXAMPLE, WE PLAN TO SPECIFY FORMALLY A TRANSPUTER NETWORK FOR REAL-TIME TARGET ACQUISITION IN AIR-TO-GROUND ATTACKS. THE CONCEPT INVOLVED IS CURRENTLY UNDER EVALUATION AT THE NAVAL WEAPONS CENTER (CHINA LAKE). TRANSPUTERS AND OCCAM ARE DIRECT IMPLEMENTATIONS OF THE THEORY OF COMMUNICATING SEQUENTIAL PROCESSES DEVELOPED AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY. THE KEY PERSONNEL AND CONSULTANTS INVOLVED IN THIS PROPOSAL ARE AMONG THE PRINCIPAL DEVELOPERS OF THIS THEORY. IN PARTICULAR, THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE BOTH FOR THE ADDITION OF REAL TIME CONCEPTS TO THE THEORY, AND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OCCAM TRANSFORMATION SYSTEM WHICH WAS USED BY INMOS IN THE DESIGN OF THE IMS, T800 TRANSPUTER. THIS LATTER SUCCESS WAS AWARDED THE 1990 QUEEN'S AWARD FOR TECHNOLOGICAL ACHIEVEMENT.