The equipment in the SENS Laboratory is being upgraded to include a cluster of symmetric
multiprocessors (SMPs), interconnected by a high-speed switch, for research in parallel
and distributed data processing applications. This testbed is supported by an NSF/CISE
Research Instrumentation grant, CDA-9617310 and matching
funds from Michigan State. The SMP cluster testbed is targeted specifically at four
research projects: large-scale parallel data clustering as applied to image processing;
communication algorithms and libraries for parallel computing environments based on
commodity components; programming support tools for specification and design,
visualization, and resource allocation; and design of parallel algorithms for feature
extraction and matching in large-scale, distributed fingerprint databases. The SMP cluster
will be interconnected to existing research facilities, creating a rich research
infrastructure for parallel and distributed computing.