The Distributed Data Flow Aspect of Industrial Computer Systems

Abstract

Today’s computer systems are in general based on the von Neumann type architecture. However, there also exist alternative architectures, for example dataflow systems and (quasi-) continuous systems.This paper presents a new type of computer architecture which is based on broadcast principle and on source addressing. This system can be viewed as a combination and generalisation of dataflow and continuous systems. It has some inherent advantages over the classical architecture, but there are also some difficulties in efficient implementation. A concept has been established which allows to implement broadcast systems efficiently and hence to utilize their advantages.There already exist distributed process control systems based on the broadcast and source addressed architecture. Ongoing research work in the field of fundamental concepts and their efficient implementation will broaden the scope of these systems and make them applicable in a wide range of process control and other applications.