Content Addressable Parallel Processors on a FPGA

In this short article, we report on the implementation of a Content Addressable Parallel Processor using a FPGA. While Content addressable memories have been implemented in FPGAs, to our knowledge this is the first implementation in FPGA of Caxton C. Foster's vision of parallel processing, particularly the notions of parallel write as well as the combining of output values, which are usually missing in more typical CAM implementations, such as the ones designed for network routing. The resulting CAPP is made accessible to a host computer over a USB/UART interface, using a straightforward serial protocol that is demonstrated using a Python-based driver.