Ring-banyan network: A fault tolerant multistage interconnection network and its fault diagnosis

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the fault tolerant schemes for the multistage interconnection network (MIN) and its fault diagnosis. Firstly, we present a fault tolerant MIN and a adaptive self-routing scheme for the network. It can provide more multiple paths than the previous networks between an input/output pair of a network by adding extra links between switching elements in the same stage and modifying the self-routing scheme of the regular MIN. The presented routing scheme is as simple as that of the regular MIN, which is based on the topological relationships among the switching elements (SE’s) that render a packet to the same destination with the regular self-routing. We present an algebraic proof to show the correctness of the scheme, and an analytic reliability analysis to provide quantitative comparisons with other some networks. Of the special notes is the finding that the network is more cost effective than the regular MIN and other augmented MIN’s in terms of the reliability. Secondary, we consider the fault models in the fault detection and the location schemes. We present a new fault diagnosis scheme for the network. © 1994, Springer Verlag. All rights reserved.