PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF INPUT-BUFFERED REPLICATED BANYAN NETWORKS

Input-buffered replicated networks are here considered for broadband switching applications. They are characterized by many design parameters such as the replication factor R, the traffic management policy and input buffer location and length. To show the influence of these parameters on switching performance an analytical model has been defined based on a Markov chain representation of the input buffer and suitable for application to input buffered architecture having different routing network choices. The results, expressed in terms of throughput, packet delay and packet loss probability, outline the performance improvements with respect to other well-known networks with input buffers, such as banyan and crossbar, reached through the flexibility offered by this architectural solution.