This text covers the subjects of computer architecture and parallel and high-performance computing. Topics include: free-space optical interconnect systems; design and analysis of optical interconnects; interconnect system analysis; and fiber-based interconnects.

Optical media are now widely used in the telecommunication networks, and the evolution of optical and optoelectronic technologies tends to show that their wide range of techniques could be successfully introduced in shorter-distance interconnection systems. This book bridges the existing gap between research in optical interconnects and research in high-performance computing and communication systems, of which parallel processing is just an example. It also provides a more comprehensive understanding of the advantages and limitations of optics as applied to high-speed communications. Audience: The book will be a vital resource for researchers and graduate students of optical interconnects, computer architectures and high-performance computing and communication systems who wish to understand the trends in the newest technologies, models and communication issues in the field.

Advances in optical technologies have made it possible to implement optical interconnections in future massively parallel processing systems. Photons are non-charged particles, and do not naturally interact. Consequently, there are many desirable characteristics of optical interconnects, e.g. high speed (speed of light), increased fanout, high bandwidth, high reliability, longer interconnection lengths, low power requirements, and immunity to EMI with reduced crosstalk. Optics can utilize free-space interconnects as well as guided wave technology, neither of which has the problems of VLSI technology mentioned above. Optical interconnections can be built at various levels, providing chip-to-chip, module-to-module, board-to-board, and node-to-node communications. Massively parallel processing using optical interconnections poses new challenges; new system configurations need to be designed, scheduling and data communication schemes based on new resource metrics need to be investigated, algorithms for a wide variety of applications need to be developed under the novel computation models that optical interconnections permit, and so on. Parallel Computing Using Optical Interconnections is a collection of survey articles written by leading and active scientists in the area of parallel computing using optical interconnections. This is the first book which provides current and comprehensive coverage of the field, reflects the state of the art from high-level architecture design and algorithmic points of view, and points out directions for further research and development.

Annotation Offers eight invited lectures by contributors from academia and industry in the fields of parallel computer systems, optical interconnections, and technology; two panel discussions; and 34 papers by contributors from throughout the world. In addition to reporting on recent advances in the field, they speculate on how optical interconnections might impact the design of parallel computer systems and communication networks, and the writing of applications and algorithms. Among the topics are reconfigurable architectures, embedding and mapping of applications and algorithms, the packaging and layout of optical interconnections, passive optical elements, data distribution and partitioning, and cost/performance studies. No subject index. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

This text covers the subjects of computer architecture and parallel and high-performance computing.

The contributions of a diverse selection of international hardware and software specialists are assimilated in this book's exploration of the development of massively parallel processing (MPP). The emphasis is placed on industrial applications and collaboration with users and suppliers from within the industrial community consolidates the scope of the publication. From a practical point of view, massively parallel data processing is a vital step to further innovation in all areas where large amounts of data must be processed in parallel or in a distributed manner, e.g. fluid dynamics, meteorology, seismics, molecular engineering, image processing, parallel data base processing. MPP technology can make the speed of computation higher and substantially reduce the computational costs. However, to achieve these features, the MPP software has to be developed further to create user-friendly programming systems and to become transparent for present-day computer software. Application of novel electro-optic components and devices is continuing and will be a key for much more general and powerful architectures. Vanishing of communication hardware limitations will result in the elimination of programming bottlenecks in parallel data processing. Standardization of the functional characteristics of a programming model of massively parallel computers will become established. Then efficient programming environments can be developed. The result will be a widespread use of massively parallel processing systems in many areas of application.