Hybrid time synchronization implemented through special ring array for mesh or torus

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new efficient hybrid time synchronization scheme for a mesh or torus interconnection networks, called ROCTS. ROCTS comprises two levels, one for the lower level that is implemented over a special high-speed ring array, one for the mesh or torus network. In ROCTS, the second network we construct is different from the past, which is a ring array with each ring not connected to any other. We can implement ROCTS in a distributed and fault-tolerant way. On the other hand, we combine the advantages of hardware and linear-envelope methods so that we can improve the performance of time synchronization even if the work load on a mesh or torus network is not uniform or even the blocked nodes occur.