A fault-tolerant two-dimensional sorting network

Abstract

The authors evaluate a class of sorting algorithms which can be adapted to a faulty network with nearest neighbor interconnections by determining a suitable indexing scheme. A worst case sorting time of O(N) is proved for these sorters. Simulation results show that the average sorting time of the fault-tolerant sorters is only slightly higher than O( square root N), and therefore is comparable to that of non-fault-tolerant sorting algorithms. This algorithmic approach does not require additional wiring for reconfiguration, and hence the amount of additional circuitry required for fault-tolerance is very small. An efficient procedure for calculating an indexing scheme is presented and simulation results are shown. Furthermore, an efficient strategy for testing the network is proposed.<>