EE Times, in an story by Chappel Brown, reports that Endgate Corporation has developed a multi-processor system based on Linux, capable of dramatically reducing the time required to model complex analog systems such as optimal antenna shape designs. Predictions of antenna performance are based on highly complex multi-variable computations which can take weeks, even months, of computation using conventional… computers and traditional serial data processing algorithms.

''Lacking a leading-edge supercomputer, Blasing and his colleagues decided to take an increasingly popular approach-a 'roll-your-own' model made from low-cost, commercially available parts. 'We just went down to a local computer store and bought the guts of 20 PCs — we didn't need the monitors or disk drives — and mounted the boards in a rack,' he explained. The 20 computers were linked with the Linux operating system, which is in the public domain. The entire configuration cost about $25,000, and the team got it up and running in a few days.''

''Called a 'Beowulf-class' computer, the approach has gained popularity in academia since the cost is low and the computers provide an opportunity for teaching parallel-programming techniques. Blasing said that Endgate's project is one of the few commercial instances where the approach has been used. 'Linux is also a key component for practical implementation of this kind of multiprocessor since it has easy-to-implement networking extensions,' he said.''

* Read the EE Times article *

 
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