Adaptive Multimodule Routers

. Recent multiprocessors such as Cray T3D support interprocessor communication using partitioned dimension-order routers (PDRs). In a PDR implementation, the routing logic and switching hardware is partitioned into multiple modules, with each module suitable for implementation as a chip. This paper proposes a method to incorporate adaptivity into such routers with simple changes to the router structure and logic. We show that with as few as two virtual channels per physical channel, adaptivity can be provided to handle nonuniform traffic in multidimensional meshes. Keywords: adaptive routing, mesh networks, multicomputers, multimodule routers, wormhole routing. 1 Introduction Many recent experimental and commercial multicomputers and multiprocessors [6, 14, 18] use grid topology based networks such as meshes and tori. Majority of these multicomputers use the dimension-order or e-cube routing with wormhole (WH) switching [8]. Wormhole is a form of cutthrough routing in which blocked ..