Data Flow Computing


Book Description

There is an increasing interest in data flow programming techniques. This interest is motivated in part by the rapid advances in technology (and the need for distributed processing techniques), in part by a desire for faster throughput by applying parallel processing techniques, and in part by search for a programming tool that is closer to the problem solving methods that people naturally adopts rather than current programming languages. This book contains a selection of chapters by researchers on various aspects of the data flow approach in computing. Topics covered include: comparisons of various data flow machine designs, data flow architectures, intentional programming and operator nets, and the relationship between data flow models and modern structured design techniques, among others. The book also includes a brief introduction to the data flow approach, a bibliography, and reviews of where research into data flow might be heading.




Control Flow and Data Flow: Concepts of Distributed Programming


Book Description

In a time of multiprocessor machines, message switching networks and process control programming tasks, the foundations of programming distributed systems are among the central challenges for computing sci enti sts. The foundati ons of di stributed programming compri se all the fasci nating questions of computing science: the development of adequate com putational , conceptual and semantic model s for distributed systems, specification methods, verification techniques, transformation rules, the development of suitable representations by programming languages, evaluation and execution of programs describing distributed systems. Being the 7th in a series of ASI Summer Schools at Marktoberdorf, these lectures concentrated on distributed systems. Already during the previous Summer School s at Marktoberdorf aspects of di stributed systems were important periodical topics. The rising interest in distributed systems, their design and implementation led to a considerable amount of research in this area. This is impressively demonstrated by the broad spectrum of the topics of the papers in this vol ume, although they are far from being comprehensive for the work done in the area of distributed systems. Distributed systems are extraordinarily complex and allow many distinct viewpoints. Therefore the literature on distributed systems sometimes may look rather confusing to people not working in the field. Nevertheless there is no reason for resignation: the Summer School was able to show considerable convergence in ideas, approaches and concepts for distributed systems.







Embedded Systems Design Based on Formal Models of Computation


Book Description

"Models of Computation for Heterogeneous Embedded Systems" presents a model of computation for heterogeneous embedded systems called DFCharts. It targets heterogeneous systems by combining finite state machines (FSM) with synchronous dataflow graphs (SDFG). FSMs are connected in the same way as in Argos (a Statecharts variant with purely synchronous semantics) using three operators: synchronous parallel, refinement and hiding. The fourth operator, called asynchronous parallel, is introduced in DFCharts to connect FSMs with SDFGs. In the formal semantics of DFCharts, the operation of an SDFG is represented as an FSM. Using this representation, SDFGs are merged with FSMs so that the behaviour of a complete DFCharts specification can be expressed as a single, flat FSM. This allows system properties to be verified globally. The practical application of DFCharts has been demonstrated by linking it to widely used system-level languages Java, Esterel and SystemC.




System Design, Modeling, and Simulation


Book Description

This book is a definitive introduction to models of computation for the design of complex, heterogeneous systems. It has a particular focus on cyber-physical systems, which integrate computing, networking, and physical dynamics. The book captures more than twenty years of experience in the Ptolemy Project at UC Berkeley, which pioneered many design, modeling, and simulation techniques that are now in widespread use. All of the methods covered in the book are realized in the open source Ptolemy II modeling framework and are available for experimentation through links provided in the book. The book is suitable for engineers, scientists, researchers, and managers who wish to understand the rich possibilities offered by modern modeling techniques. The goal of the book is to equip the reader with a breadth of experience that will help in understanding the role that such techniques can play in design.







DataFlow Supercomputing Essentials


Book Description

This informative text/reference highlights the potential of DataFlow computing in research requiring high speeds, low power requirements, and high precision, while also benefiting from a reduction in the size of the equipment. The cutting-edge research and implementation case studies provided in this book will help the reader to develop their practical understanding of the advantages and unique features of this methodology. This work serves as a companion title to DataFlow Supercomputing Essentials: Algorithms, Applications and Implementations, which reviews the key algorithms in this area, and provides useful examples. Topics and features: reviews the library of tools, applications, and source code available to support DataFlow programming; discusses the enhancements to DataFlow computing yielded by small hardware changes, different compilation techniques, debugging, and optimizing tools; examines when a DataFlow architecture is best applied, and for which types of calculation; describes how converting applications to a DataFlow representation can result in an acceleration in performance, while reducing the power consumption; explains how to implement a DataFlow application on Maxeler hardware architecture, with links to a video tutorial series available online. This enlightening volume will be of great interest to all researchers investigating supercomputing in general, and DataFlow computing in particular. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students involved in courses on Data Mining, Microprocessor Systems, and VLSI Systems, will also find the book to be a helpful reference.




Advanced Topics in Dataflow Computing and Multithreading


Book Description

The book includes papers on massively parallel distributed memory and multithreaded architecture design, synchronization and pipelined design, and superpipelined data-driven VLSI processors. Other sections discuss stream data types, the development of well-structured software, and parallelization of dataflow programs.




Hardware/Software Co-Design for Data Flow Dominated Embedded Systems


Book Description

Introduces different tasks of hardware/software co-design, including system specification, hardware/software partitioning, co-synthesis, and co-simulation. Summarizes and classifies co-design tools and methods for these tasks, and presents the co-design tool COOL, useful for solving co-design tasks for the class of data-flow dominated embedded systems. Primary emphasis is on hardware/software partitioning and the co-synthesis phase and their coupling. A mathematical formulation of the hardware/software partitioning problem is given, and several novel approaches are presented and compared for solving the partitioning problem. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR