The advent of microprocessors as low-cost general- purpose computing elements has made feasible the implementation of multiprocessor systems containing a large number of cooperating modules. When the number of modules in the system is large it is unlikely that all of them are busy with computation at all times. Therefore, it may be possible to utilize this "slack" by having the nonbusy modules perform diagnostics. In this way computation and diagnosis are performed concurrently in real time. In this correspondence we consider the problem of designing systems in which concurrent computation/diagnosis is possible and we evaluate the potential of such approach.

In multi-module and multi-processor systems, system performance can be greatly enhanced by the use of reconfiguration. In this paper we attempt to categorize and present standard definitions for the many different types of reconfigurable systems. Illustrations from the literature for each category are presented.