Performance and Reliability of the Multistage Bus Network

Abstract

A Multistage Bus Network(MBN) has been proposed as a viable alternative to the existing interconnection networks. The MBN consists of multiple stages of buses connected in a manner similar to the conventional Multistage Interconnection Networks(MINs) and has the same bandwidth at each stage. Due to the bidirectional nature of the MBN, there exist a number of separate paths between any source and destination pair. Some paths make a U-turn at an intermediate stage switch which is a common ancestor of the source and destination. We present self routing techniques for the various paths. We also present a performance analysis of a synchronous packet switched MBN and compare the results with those of a MIN. Finally we present a reliability analysis of the MBN and show its superiority over the MIN.