Design and implementation of fault-tolerant and cost effective crossbar switches for multiprocessor systems

Abstract

Two general crossbar switch models are proposed: the modified one-sided crossbar switch and the ripple K one-sided crossbar switch. They both balance cost and reliability, where cost is expressed in terms of crosspoint count or area. The two-sided crossbar switch and the one-sided crossbar switch are two cases of these structures. These structures provide choices for compromising structures between the two-sided crossbar switch and the one-sided crossbar switch. The effective bandwidths of these four crossbar switches are simulated. Simulation with VHDL has been performed to verify the functionality of each crossbar system. Synthesis has also been conducted to evaluate delay and area for each crossbar design. Experimental results demonstrate that the two general models of crossbar switches are cost-effective in terms of reliability and crosspoint count (or area) without reducing their effective bandwidths. The work promotes the use of the crossbar switch as an interconnection network for multiprocessor systems to enhance system performance and reliability with low cost.