Analysis and Simulation of Buffered Delta Networks

TLDR

Delta networks are multistage interconnection networks with lower gate complexity than crossbar switches, and buffered variants add queues between stages. The study analyzes and simulates the performance of delta networks in a packet communication environment. The authors compare buffered delta networks against unbuffered delta networks and crossbar switches. Buffering significantly improves performance, bringing buffered delta networks to parity with crossbar switches.

Abstract

Delta networks are a class of multistage interconnection networks with gate complexity less than crossbar switches that are easy to control, and which include several networks that have been proposed in the literature as special cases. Buffered delta networks have queues of packets between the stages of the network. This paper presents analytic and simulation results for the performance of delta networks in a packet communication environment. The performance of buffered delta networks is compared with unbuffered delta networks and crossbar switches. It is demonstrated that buffering produces considerable improvement in the performance of these networks, making their performance comparable to that of crossbar switches.