Block-switch networks: A cost-effective class of interconnection network

Abstract

A new interconnection scheme is proposed for hierarchically constructing massively parallel systems, called the Block-Switch Network (BSN). Presented here is method of connecting together a number of identical basic atoms level by level, a basic atom being an arbitrary connected graph. A BSN is characterized by (G, m), where G represents the basic atom and m denotes the number of levels in hierarchical expansion. A particular choice for G yields a family of hierarchical networks. The topological properties of the BSN for the general case are investigated, and then the results gained from applying BSN to different basic atoms are also discussed. The BSN enables us to construct new families of graphs more feasible and cost-effective. It also deserves mentioning that a shortest-path routing algorithm for the BSN is derived by reducing the routing problem to the K-best perfect matching problem. In particular, we implement fundamental parallel algorithms (descend/ascend) on the BSN(Q(n), m) where Q(n) denotes an n-cube, and demonstrate that the performance on the BSN(Q(n),m) is very close to that of the comparable hypercube.