CS-534

Packet Switch Architecture

Postgraduate

• The course offers an overview of alternative interconnection network architectures presenting the benefits and the shortcomings of each alternative as well as evaluation methods. The following concepts and methods are presented: 
• Data transmission links and their capacity: point-to-point versus shared medium communication, serial versus parallel links.
• Switching: time division multiplexing, time switching versus space switching, add-drop multiplexers, inverse multiplexing and multistage networks, strictly non-blocking networks versus re-arrangeably non-blocking networks.
•  Packet switching concepts: statistical multiplexing, output contention, buffering, queues, internal blocking, head of line blocking (HOL), time scheduling, flow control.
•  The evolution of packet switches.
•  Packet buffer architecture: wide memories, interleaved memories, pipelined memories, multiple queues in shared buffer, queues for multicast traffic. Packet segmentation and reassembly.
•  Queueing architecture: output queues and crosspoint queues, the knock-out switch, shared buffer, input queues, virtual output queues, internal speedup, scheduling in crossbars.
•  Interconnection network architecture: crossbar, multi-stage networks, hypercube, Benes, Clos, fat trees, trees, adaptive routing, route,  networks with or without internal buffers.
•  Flow control: static/dynamic, lossless versus lossy, explicit/implicit, end-to-end/hop-by-hop, rate-based/credit-based/mixed, indiscriminate/per-flow, wormhole routing, networks with internal backpressure.
•  Datacenter networks.
•  Scheduling for quality of service: priority scheduling, circular scheduling (round-robin), weighted round-robin.
•   Literature study on datacenter and supercomputer interconnection networks

LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Knowledge: Having attended and succeeded in the course, the student is able to understand and evaluate hardware  interconnection networks.
2. Understanding: Having attended and succeeded in the course, the student will be able to identify critical components in the interconnection networks of parallel computers, such as its network topology and its scheduling disciplines.
3. Application: Having attended and succeeded in the course, the student is able to design, implement and simulate components of large interconnection networks.
4. Analysis: Having attended and succeeded in the course, the student is able to evaluate the performance and the cost of alternative interconnection network architectures.
5. Synthesis: Having attended and succeeded in the course, the student is able to combine ideas from existing network architectures in order to build new ones.
6. Evaluation: Having attended and succeeded in the course, the student is able to systematically evaluate alternative interconnection networks..

STUDENT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
Class attendance/participation
Exercises/projects
Oral/written exams

 

6

CS-225, CS-335

http://www.csd.uoc.gr/~hy534