"Spin-lock synchronization on the Butterfly and KSR1"

Xiaodong Zhang, Robert Castaneda, and Elisa W. Chan 

IEEE Parallel & Distributed Technology, Vol 2, Spring Issue, 1994, 
pp. 51-63.

Abstract

Multistage Interconnection Network (MIN) and Hierarchical Ring (HR)
structures are two important bases on which to build large scale
shared-memory multiprocessors. The design and implementation of
spin-lock synchronization algorithms on MIN-based and HR-based
multiprocessors are complicated due to the complex structure of
interconnection networks, the increased potential for contention of
network and memory systems, and the performance effects of cache
coherence in large shared-memory systems.  %Various spin-lock
algorithms for shared-memory multiprocessors have been %studied
recently.  The execution behavior of spin-locks is significantly
different between MIN-based and HR-based architectures.  We conduct an
empirical study to evaluate and compare spin lock synchronization
performance on these two types of multiprocessors.  We present simple
and efficient implementations of spin-lock algorithms on the BBN GP1000
and the BBN TC2000, both MIN-based multiprocessors, and on the KSR1, an
HR-based multiprocessor.  We report performance results for these
machines, to provide a better understanding of how spin-lock algorithms
can be carried out in a cost-effective manner on these two types of
large scale shared-memory architectures.  

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