Continuum: A Hybrid Time/Space Communications Paradigm for k-ary n-cubes

Abstract

Although major advances have been made in improving the performance of interconnection networks for parallel systems, this area continues to be an active avenue of research. This is primarily due to the important role that interconnection network performance plays in determining the overall performance of a system. In this paper we introduce the Continuum communications paradigm, which utilizes multiple, unidirectional, register-insertion buses to provide a hybrid time/space division network. A discussion of the register-insertion bus is presented, along with its extension to k-ary n-cubes. An evaluation of the Continuum paradigm by simulation is given and it is found it to provide an effective model for general inter processor communication.