Mailbox switch: a scalable two-stage switch architecture for conflict resolution of ordered packets

Abstract

Traditionally, conflict resolution in an input- buffered switch is solved by finding a matching between inputs and outputs per time slot, which incurs unscalable computation and communication overheads. The main objective of this paper is to propose a scalable solution, called the mailbox switch, that solves the out-of-sequence problem in the two-stage switch architecture. The key idea of the mailbox switch is to use a set of symmetric connection patterns to create a feedback path for packet departure times. With the information of packet departure times, the mailbox switch can schedule packets so that they depart in the order of their arrivals. Despite the simplicity of the mailbox switch, we show via both the theoretical models and simulations that the throughput of the mailbox switch can be as high as 75%. With limited resequencing delay, a modified version of the mailbox switch achieves 95% throughput. We also propose a recursive way to construct the switch fabrics for the set of symmetric connection patterns. If the number of inputs, N, is a power of 2, we show that the switch fabric for the mailbox switch can be built with y log2 N 2 x 2 switches.