Interval stabbing on the Automata Processor

Abstract

The Automata Processor (AP) was designed for string-pattern matching. In this paper, we showcase its use to execute integer and floating-point comparisons and apply the same to accelerate interval stabbing queries. An interval stabbing query determines which of the intervals in a set overlap a query point. Such queries are often used in computational geometry, pattern matching, database management systems, and geographic information systems. The check for each interval is programmed as a single automaton and multiple automata are executed in parallel to provide significant performance gains. While handling 32-bit integers or single-precision floating-point numbers, up to 2.75 trillion comparisons can be executed per second, whereas 0.79 trillion comparisons per second can be completed for 64-bit integers or double-precision floating-point numbers. Additionally, our solution leaves the intervals in the set unordered allowing addition or deletion of an interval in constant time. This is not possible for contemporary solutions wherein the intervals are ordered, making update of intervals complex. Our automata designs are modular allowing them to become constituent parts of larger automata, where the numerical comparisons are part of the overall pattern matching operation. We have validated the designs on the hardware, and the routines to generate the necessary automata and execute them on the AP will be made available as software libraries shortly.