AN OPTICALLY INTERCONNECTED DISTRIBUTED SHARED MEMORY SYSTEM: ARCHITECTURE AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

Abstract

This paper introduces an optically interconnected distributed shared memory system. The distributed shared memory approach integrates both shared memory and distributed memory system ideas to extract the strengths of each while balancing their respective weaknesses. The system is a system based on a photonic network to support the high communication requirement of . The employs wavelength division multiple access on the photonic network, enabling multiple channels to be formed on a single optical fiber. A result of the high communication capacity is the simplification of the global address mapping problem. This simplified uniform address allocation scheme is introduced. The advantages of the proposed approach are examined through a performance analysis based on a closed queueing network which has been validated through extensive simulation. The performance of the system is evaluated in terms of transaction time of a memory request and system throughput. The impact of variations in the number of channels and processors in the system on these metrics is studied. The effect of variations in memory and channel service times are also evaluated.