High Performance Neural Net Simulation on a Multiprocessor System with "Intelligent" Communication

The performance requirements in experimental research on artificial neural nets often exceed the capability of workstations and PCs by a great amount. But speed is not the only requirement. Flexibility and implementation time for new algorithms are usually of equal importance. This paper describes the simulation of neural nets on the MUSIC parallel supercomputer, a system that shows a good balance between the three issues and therefore made many research projects possible that were unthinkable before. The system should be flexible, simple to program and the realization time should be short enough to not have an obsolete system by the time it is finished. Therefore, the fastest available standard components were used.