Architecture and Implementation of the Reliable Router

The Reliable Router (RR) is a network switching element targeted to two-dimensional mesh interconnection network topologies. It is designed to run at 100 MHz and reach a useful link bandwidth of 3.2 Gbit/sec. The Reliable Router uses adaptive routing coupled with link-level retransmission and a unique-token protocol to increase both performance and reliability. The RR can handle a single node or link failure anywhere in the network without interruption of service. Other unique features include a queueless low-latency plesiochronous channel interface and simultaneous bidirectional signalling. 1 Introduction Interconnection networks significantly affect the performance and reliability of massively parallel processors (MPPs). Previous work on network switching elements which employed oblivious routing such as the J-Machine Router [2] and the Caltech Mesh-Routing Chips [11] did not address the issue of reliability in part because of the inherent non-adaptivity of oblivious routing. Past w..