An implementation of a general-purpose parallel sorting algorithm

Abstract

A parallel sorting algorithm is presented for general purpose internal sorting on MIMD machines. The algorithm initially sorts the elements within each node using a serial sorting algorithm, then proceeds with a two phase parallel merge. The algorithm is comparison-based and requires additional storage of order the square root of the number of elements in each node. Performance of the algorithm is examined on two MIMD machines, the Fujitsu AP1000 and the Thinking Machines CM5.