An environment for research in microprogramming and emulation
Communications of the ACM
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The AIMER project (Automatic Integration of Multiple Element Radars) is an emulated model of a loosely coupled distributed radar tracking processor. The computational elements of the model are minicomputers similar to the PDP-11. Design goals of the model are to provide a reliable processing system whose computational bandwidth can be dynamically altered in response to changing ground scenario and availability of hardware. A large number of minicomputers connected with multiple packet networks was chosen as the framework for the design. Building such a network with real computers would not have provided the required reconfiguration flexibility, and so a hybrid simulation/emulation approach was chosen. The instruction set of the minicomputer family is emulated, which allows performance monitoring to be an integral part of the system. Simulation is the key to controlled experiments and comprehensive throughput analysis. The radar and ground environments are simulated with logic residing in one of the emulated minicomputers. The use of this simulation technique has resulted in an extremely flexible test bed for the development of distributed radar tracking system models. The test bed itself can be quickly tailored to other application problems. This model is implemented on a Nanodata QM-1 emulation support computer. The QM-1 has two levels of microprogram control store, which allow implementor man hours and efficiency to be traded off conveniently.