Computing network flow on a multiple processor pipeline

We demonstrate the feasibility of a distributed implementation of the Goldberg-Tarjan algorithm for finding the maximum flow in a network. Unlike other parallel implementations of this algorithm, where the network graph is partitioned among many processors, we partition the algorithm among processors arranged in a pipeline. The network graph data are distributed among the processors according to local requirements. The partitioned algorithm is implemented on six processors within a 15-processor pipelined message-passing multicomputer operating at 5 MHz. We used randomly generated networks with integer capacities as examples. Performance estimates based upon a six-processor pipelined implementation indicated a speedup between 3.8 and 5.9 over a single processor