Image processing on the massively parallel processor

Abstract

A review of the massively parallel processor (MPP) is provided. The MPP, a single instruction, multiple data parallel computer with 16K processors being built for NASA by Goodyear Aerospace, can perform over six billion eight-bit adds and 1.8 billion eight-bit multiplies per second. Its SIMD architecture and immense computing power promise to make the MPP an extremely useful and exciting new tool for all types of pattern recognition and image processing applications. The SIMD parallelism can be used to directly calculate 16K statistical pattern recognition results simultaneously. Moreover, the 16K processors can be configured into a two-dimensional array to efficiently extract features from a 128x128 subimage in parallel. The parallel search capability of SIMD architectures can be used to search recognition and production rules in parallel, thus eliminating the need to sort them. This feature is particularly important if the rules are dynamically changing. Finally, the MPP's computing power and extreme flexibility will allow the development of new techniques for scene analysis - realtime scene analysis, for example, in which the sensor can interact with the scene as needed.