9.

Architectural
Classification by M.J. Flynn

Dr. Arun Kumar

Dept. of CSE, NIT RKL
Parallel Processing
l The purpose of parallel processing is to speed
up the computer processing capability and
increase its throughput.
l that is, the amount of processing that can be
accomplished during a given interval of time.
l There are a variety of ways that parallel
processing can be classified.
l It can be considered from the internal organization of
the processors, from the interconnection structure
between processors, or from the flow of information
through the system.
Flynn’s classification
l Michael J Flynn classified computers on the
basis of multiplicity of instruction stream and
data streams in a computer system.
l It gives how sequence of instructions or data will
be executed upon a single processor
l Instruction stream: is the sequence of
instructions as executed by the machine
l Data Stream: is a sequence of data including
input, or partial or temporary result, called by the
instruction Stream.
Flynn's taxonomy
l The four classifications defined by Flynn are based upon
the number of concurrent instruction(or control) and data
streams available in the architecture:
l Flynn’s classification divides computers into four major
groups as follows:
1. Single Instruction Stream, Single Data Stream (SISD)
2. Single Instruction Stream, Multiple Data Stream (SIMD)
3. Multiple Instruction Stream, Single Data Stream (MISD)
4. Multiple Instruction Stream, Multiple Data Stream (MIMD)
Flynn's taxonomy
Abbreviations
l IS à Instruction Stream
l DS à Data Stream
l MM à Memory Stream
l SM à Shared Memory
l CU à Control Unit
l PU à Processor Unit
Single Instruction Stream,
Single Data Stream (SISD)
l Instructions are decoded by the control unit
and then control unit send the instructions to
the processing units for execution.
l Data Stream flows between the processors and
memory bi directionally.
SISD
l Examples of SISD architecture are the
traditional uniprocessor machines like a PC
or old mainframes.
Single Instruction Stream,
Multiple Data Stream (SIMD)
l Multiple processing elements supervised by the same control unit.
l All PU’s receive the same instruction broadcast from the control unit
but operate on different data sets from distinct data streams.
l The shared memory subsystem may contain multiple modules.
Multiple Instruction Stream,
Single Data Stream (MISD)
l There are n processor units each receiving distinct instructions
operating over the same data stream and its derivatives.
l The results of one processor become the input of the next processor
in the macro pipe.
l No real embodiment of this class exists.
MISD
l Multiple instructions operate on a single data
stream.
l Uncommon architecture which is generally
used for fault tolerance.
l Heterogeneous systems operate on the same
data stream and must agree on the result.
l Examples include the Space Shuttle flight
control computer.
Multiple Instruction Stream,
Multiple Data Stream (MIMD)
l Most multiprocessor systems and multiple computer systems can be
classified in this category.
l An intrinsic MIMD computer implies interactions among the n
processors because all memory streams are derived from the same
data space shared by processors.
MIMD
l In the n data streams were derived from
disjointed subspaces of the shared memories,
then we would have the so called SISD (MSISD)
operation, which is nothing but a set of n
independent SISD uniprocessor systems.
l Two Types:
l Loosely Coupled
l Tightly coupled
Thank You