The operation and performance of a multiple processor system with a shared bus is studied. The model developed is applicable to real time computations consisting of two pipelined tasks in which the first task is partitioned into a number of independent subtasks that are executed in parallel. It is proved that after a number of task executions the operation of the system becomes periodic. The speed of convergence to this periodic state is estimated and an expression for the cycle time is derived. The throughput is also evaluated and is proved to be independent of the order with which the processors transmit data through the bus.

The performance of a special purpose multiple processor system with a shared bus for the transmission of output data is studied. A finite population queueing model with Poisson arrivals and services is developed and analyzed. The number of states is found to increase factorially with the number of customers. In the special case of equal arrival and service rates, the model reduces to a simpler one, whose solution is obtained by a recursive technique that reduces significantly the computation time. Under certain conditions, the simplified model provides a good approximation to the throughput predicted by the general model.