Efficient implementations of search trees on parallel distributed memory architectures

A scheme for maintaining a balanced search tree on a distributed memory parallel architecture is described. A general 2^P-2-2^P (for integer P>or=3) search tree is introduced with a linear array of up to (log₂ N/(P-2))+1 processors being used to implement such a search tree. As many as ((log₂ N/(P-2))+1)/2 operations can execute concurrently. Insertion and deletion transformations are described and several search trees are demonstrated on an array of transputer processors. Variations in both the number of processors allocated to the array and the value of P allow the optimal search structure for a given architecture to be determined.