Importance of SIMD Computation Reconsidered: Applications to Air Traffic
Control

In this paper, SIMD and MIMD solutions for the real-time database
management problem of air traffic control are compared. A real-time
database system is highly constrained in a multiprocessor and access to
the common database must be made to a limited number of data elements
at a time.  This MIMD database access is contrasted with the comparable
SIMD common database access, which can be several hundred times greater.
This is true because the SIMD can simultaneously access thousands of
desired records instead of the limited number with the MIMD.  The fact
that certain SIMDs can support a polynomial time solution for the Air
Traffic Control problem but that no polynomial time solution is known
for this problem using a multiprocessor and none is expected argues
against the common belief that MIMDs are more powerful than SIMDs.

Short Biography:

Johnnie Baker received his bachelors degree from Hardin-Simmons University
and his masters and Ph.D. degree from University of Texas in Austin. He
was a faculty member at Florida State University prior to joining
the faculty at Kent State University in 1973. In addition to computer
science, he also has publications in mathematics (in both Banach Spaces
and general topology) and computational chemistry. His current interests
include parallel computing (e.g., models, data parallel and associative
computing, algorithms), real time systems with hard deadlines, air traffic
control, and molecular similarity analysis and its applications. He has
refereed for numerous conferences and journals and has been the General
Chair or Co-Chair of the Workshop for Massively Parallel Processing
since 2002.  He has served as an editor for Parallel Processing Letters
since 1991. Additionally, he has served as Chair of the Computer Science
Department at Kent State since 2001.