Literally Embedded Processors

William Butera and V. Michael Bove, Jr.
MIT Media Laboratory
Proc. SPIE Media Processors 2001, v. 4313, 2001.

We propose a robust programming model for dense ensembles of ultra miniaturized computing nodes which are deployed in bulk fashion, e.g. embedded into building materials. We sketch a hardware reference model as an initial guide to the application domain, then we describe a programming model based on mobile code fragments which self assemble into larger structures. We outline a simple representative application that we have developed and tested on a system simulator.