Biswapped networks: a family of interconnection architectures with advantages over swapped or OTIS networks

Abstract

We propose a new family of communication architectures called ‘biswapped networks’. Given any n-node basis network Ω, the associated biswapped network Bsw(Ω) is built of 2n copies of Ω, using a simple rule for connectivity that ensures desirable attributes, including regularity, modularity, fault tolerance, and algorithmic efficiency. In particular, if Ω is a Cayley digraph, then so is Bsw(Ω). Our biswapped connectivity provides a systematic scheme for synthesizing large, scalable, modular, and robust parallel architectures. Furthermore, many desirable attributes of the underlying basis network Ω are preserved, as the Bsw(Ω) parameters are related to the corresponding parameters of Ω. We obtain a number of results on internode distances, Hamiltonian cycles, optimal routing, and node-disjoint paths for Bsw(Ω). We explore the relations between biswapped and swapped or optical transpose interconnection system (OTIS) networks, which may use a mix of electronic and optical links. In particular, we demonstrate that the biswapped connectivity removes an inherent asymmetry of swapped/OTIS networks, as well as the attendant complications in analyses and applications. Finally, we show that biswapped networks are complementary to, and offer advantages over, well-known and widely used interconnection architectures for parallel processing.