Performance of switching fabrics used for the scalable router

The intention of this paper is to examine the performance aspects of switching fabrics which can be used for scalable high-performance routers. Topology and capabilities of switching fabrics are discussed, followed by an examination of their performance measures in diverse scenarios for possible operation of switching elements (SEs). It has been shown that the switching fabric based on the cube type multistage interconnection network (MIN) outperforms those based on the PM2I type MIN under both any traffic scenario and SE operation. The simulation results presented should be helpful in predicting the router performance before actual fabrication of the switching fabric.