CIXOB-k: combined input-crosspoint-output buffered packet switch

Abstract

We propose a novel architecture, a combined input-crosspoint-output buffered (CIXOB-k, where k is the size of the crosspoint buffer) Switch. CIXOB-k architecture provides 100% throughput under uniform and unbalanced traffic. It also provides timing relaxation and scalability. CIXOB-k is based on a switch with combined input-crosspoint buffering (CIXB-k) and round-robin arbitration. CIXB-k has a better performance than a non-buffered crossbar that uses iSLIP arbitration scheme. CIXOB-k uses a small speedup to provide 100% throughput under unbalanced traffic. We analyze the effect of the crosspoint buffer size and the switch size under uniform and unbalanced traffic for CIXB-k. We also describe solutions for relaxing the crosspoint memory amount and scalability for a CIXOB-k switch with a large number of ports.