| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/J43301/01 |
| Title: |
SUPPORT WHOLE-STRUCTURE OPERATIONS IN KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS VIA ACTIVE MEMORY |
| Principal Investigator: |
Lavington, Professor S |
| Other Investigators: |
|
| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
|
| Project Partners: |
|
| Department: |
Computer Sci and Electronic Engineering |
| Organisation: |
University of Essex |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 December 1993 |
Ends: |
30 November 1996 |
Value (£): |
287,362
|
| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Information & Knowledge Mgmt |
|
|
| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
|
| Related Grants: |
|
| Panel History: |
|
|
Summary on Grant Application Form |
|
(a) To develop a paradigm-independent Abstract Machine, based on the active memory principle;(b) To implement high-level and low-level interfaces to this Abstract Machine;(c) To evaluate novel parallel hardware support for the Abstract Machine, using a number of data-intensive applications. Progress:An Abstract Machine has been developed that encapsulates generic operations on structures such as sets, relations and graphs. The operations include the relational algebraic primitives plus iteration control. A special macro instruction is incorporated that allows for the rapid parallel execution of frequently-used linear recursive queries of the least fixpoint (closure) kind. The structures are named tuple-sets, conceptually held in associative (ie content-addressable) memory.A high-level language called SQLOG has been developed for the Abstract Machine. SQLOG is a rule-based relational language with recursion. A standard SQL interface above SQLOG, and an Abstract Machine Code interface below SQLOG, have been implemented. A software simulator for the Abstract Machine has been made available to collaborating research groups. We have provided parallel hardware support for the Abstract Machine by re-programming the OCCAM firmware for the IFS/2 knowledge-base server whose development was begun under a previous project. The IFS/2 has been attached via a SCSI channel to a Workstation, to form an add-on active memory unit. The prototype IFS/2, which is modularly extensible, at present includes 27 Mbytes of pseudo-associative semiconductor CAM via SIMD techniques. Benchmarking has begun. Initial results show that the add-on unit improves the Workstations performance for the AS3AP SQL benchmark by about 15 times over INGRES, and improves the Workstations PROLOG performance for linear recursive queries by up to 1000 times.
|
|
Key Findings |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
|
Potential use in non-academic contexts |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
|
Impacts |
|
| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
|
| Date Materialised |
|
|
|
|
Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
|
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
|
| Project URL: |
|
| Further Information: |
|
| Organisation Website: |
http://www.sx.ac.uk |