Performance analysis of a generalized class of m-level hierarchical multiprocessor systems

The performance of the m-level hierarchical multiprocessor system is analyzed in terms of the system bandwidth for both hierarchically nonuniform reference and uniform reference models. The results show that for a higher rate of local requests (requests to memory modules within the same cluster) the m-level system performs fairly close to the crossbar system and outperforms a typical multiple-bus system (with the number of buses equal to half the number of processors). The bandwidth of the m-level system is evaluated for different numbers of levels, and the results are compared with those of a crossbar system (m=1)