The design of a distributor in a large ATM switch

We investigate the design of a distributor for a large ATM switch. In our switch design, there are two stages of switch elements and a stage of distributors which are rectangular banyan networks. The I/O connection vector of a distributor is changed periodically in order to even out the traffic over the switch elements of the first stage. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of a given set of I/O connection vectors of the stage of distributors, we define two metrics called connection scenario and scattering. We discuss specific I/O connection vectors characterized by connection scenario and scattering that intuitively appear to be helpful in reducing the number of cells lost in the switch and/or in reducing the average total delay suffered by an ATM cell in the switch. With computer simulation we make insightful observations about switch performance for these I/O connection vectors