Design and evaluation of a DAMQ multiprocessor network with self-compacting buffers

The paper describes a new approach to implement dynamically allocated multi-queue (DAMQ) switching elements using a technique called “self-compacting buffers”. This technique is efficient in that the amount of hardware required to manage the buffers is relatively small; it offers high performance since it is an implementation of a DAMQ. The paper describes the self-compacting buffer architecture in detail, and compares it against a competing DAMQ switch design. It presents extensive simulation results comparing the performance of a self-compacting buffer switch against an ideal switch including several examples of k-ary n-cubes and delta networks. In addition, simulation results show how the performance of an entire network can be quickly and accurately approximated by simulating just a single switching element