Cannon's algorithm

In computer science, Cannon's algorithm is a distributed algorithm for matrix multiplication for two-dimensional meshes first described in 1969 by Lynn Elliot Cannon.[1][2]

It is especially suitable for computers laid out in an N × N mesh.[3] While Cannon's algorithm works well in homogeneous 2D grids, extending it to heterogeneous 2D grids has been shown to be difficult.[4]

The main advantage of the algorithm is that its storage requirements remain constant and are independent of the number of processors.[2]

The Scalable Universal Matrix Multiplication Algorithm (SUMMA)[5] is a more practical algorithm that requires less workspace and overcomes the need for a square 2D grid. It is used by the ScaLAPACK, PLAPACK, and Elemental libraries.
See also

Systolic array

References

Lynn Elliot Cannon, A cellular computer to implement the Kalman Filter Algorithm, Technical report, Ph.D. Thesis, Montana State University, 14 July 1969.
Gupta, H.; Sadayappan, P.: Communication Efficient Matrix-Multiplication on Hypercubes, dbpubs.stanford.edu
4.2 Matrix Multiplication on a Distributed Memory Machine, www.phy.ornl.gov
Ph.D. Research, graal.ens-lyon.fr

Robert A. van de Geijn and Jerrell Watts, SUMMA: scalable universal matrix multiplication algorithm, Concurrency: Practice and Experience. Volume 9, Issue 4, pages 255–274, April 1997.

External links

Lecture at Berkeley
mu.oz.au