Polymorphic computer unveiled

BOFFINS WORKING for the US military contractor Raytheon have come up with what they are computers that can adopt different forms depending on what they have to run.

Called, Monarch (Morphable Networked Micro-Architecture) the computer has been developed to tackle the large data volume of sensor systems as well as their signal and data processing throughput requirements.

The boffins say that it is the most adaptable processor ever built for the Department of Defense and reduces the number of processor types required. Monarch runs as a single system on a chip and it performs in an array of chips for teraflop throughput.

One of the chaps and chapettes behind the chip, Nick Uros said that most chips were designed either for front-end signal processing or back-end control and data processing. Monarch reconfigures itself so it can do either.

It outperformed the Intel quad-core Xeon chip by a factor of 10, claimed Uros.

When stuck in an array containing six microprocessors Monarch has managed 64 gigaflops with more than 60 gigabytes per second of memory bandwidth and more than 43 gigabytes per second of off-chip data bandwidth.

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