Parallel processing is often employed in real-time control systems to reduce execution times. The paper, however, investigates the potential of parallel processing, and one device, in particular, the Inmos transputer, in the design of a fault-tolerant high-integrity computer module for gas-turbine engine control. Introducing multiple processors into a control system has the potential to render that system less reliable in an operational sense, than a conventional single processor implementation. However, attention to system design can, in fact, exploit parallel-processing capability to result in improved reliability. While three-lane voting systems are commonly favoured in avionics systems, owing to hardware implementation constraints, gas-turbine engine controllers are generally realised as two-lane systems. Transputer system configurations are devised in an attempt to overcome this constraint. In particular, an ‘overlapping triad’ topology is investigated in detail, and both strength and weaknesses of the present transputer architecture are revealed.