A Distributed Mini-Computer Network.

This thesis presents a set of functional requirements for a distributed mini-computer network along with a basic architecture design to fulfill those requirements. The functional requirements were established by comparing the requirements of existing networks to the needs of the Air Force Institute of Technology Digital Engineering Laboratory. The requirements must provide a tool for education in operating systems studies while allowing mini-computer-based research. The primary emphasis of the proposed architecture is the separation of the network operating system functions into independent processes which will run concurrently on the various mini-computers in the network. This distribution of network supervisory functions is made possible by limiting all communication between processes to a set of synchronizing messages. The messages provide a data interface which allows communication without knowledge of the processes location within the network.