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Tightly vs loosely coupled multiprocessors
Short answer
Tightly coupled multiprocessors share a common memory and communicate through it, providing fast, low-latency interaction but limited scalability. Loosely coupled systems have distributed local memories and communicate via message passing, offering higher scalability with slower, higher-latency communication.
Differentiate between tightly coupled multiprocessors and loosely coupled multiprocessors.
| Point | Tightly coupled | Loosely coupled |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | Common shared memory used by all processors | Each processor has its own local memory |
| Communication | Through the shared memory | By message passing over a message-transfer system |
| Interconnection | Bus, crossbar or multistage network | Communication channels, links, networks |
| Interaction | High, strong interaction between processors | Low, minimal interaction |
| Data rate and delay | Fast, low delay | Slower, high delay |
| Memory contention | Yes, a bottleneck | No, local memory |
| Scalability | Limited | Easily scaled to many processors |
| Suitable for | Parallel tasks with shared data | Distributed tasks, clusters |
| Example | SMP server | Cluster of computers |
✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)
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