Multistage Interconnection Networks (MINs) are used to interconnect different processing modules in various parallel systems or on high bandwidth networks. In this paper an integrated performance methodology is presented. A new approximate performance model for self-routing MINs consisting of symmetrical switches which are subject to a backpressure blocking mechanism is analyzed. Based on this, the steady-state distribution of the queue utilization is estimated and then all important performance metrics are calculated. Moreover, a general evaluation factor which helps in choosing a better performance MIN in comparison with other similar MIN architecture specifications is defined. The model was exemplified for the case of symmetrical single- and double-buffered MINs. It provides accurate results and converges very quickly. The obtained results were validated by extensive simulations and were compared to existing related work in the literature.
['John D. Garofalakis', 'Eleftherios Stergiou']
An Approximate Analytical Performance Model for Multistage Interconnection Networks with Backpressure Blocking Mechanism