Abstract
A comprehensive overview and survey of the developments in optical bus parallel computing models is presented in this paper. The first model proposed was the APPB in 1990. Since then, in the order of their appearance, the remaining nine models surveyed are: APPBS, ASOS, LPB, RASOB, AROB, LARPBS, PB, LAPOB and PR-MESH. Research trends observed from this analysis indicate periods of model development leading to more and more sophistication and complexity in the model, followed by periods of model simplifications. These periods appears to occur in cycles. We note the widespread and global research interest in these models. The three most popular models appear to be RASOB, AROB and LARPBS. We also have analyzed a crucial aspect of these models, the bus cycle time definitions, and have determined inaccuracies in most of the definitions appearing in the literature. We also provide refinement to the definitions to correct such inaccuracies.