Processor Interconnection

A multiprocessor system with a large number of nodes can be built at low cost by combining the recent advances in high capacity channels available through optical ber communication. A highly fault tolerant system is created with good performance characteristics at a reduction in system complexity. The system capitalizes of the self-routing characteristic of wavelength division multiple access to improve performance and reduce complexity. A hypercube based structure is introduced, where optical multiple access channels span the dimensional axes. This severely reduces the required degree, since only one I/O port is required per dimension. However, good performance is maintained through the high capacity characteristics of optical communication. The reduction in degree is shown to have signi cant system complexity implications. Four star-coupled con gurations are studied as the basis for the optical multiple access channels, three of which exhibit the optical self-routing characteristic. A performance analysis shows that through the integration of agile sources or receivers, and wavelength division multiple access, systems can be developed with signi cant increases in performance yet at a reduction in communication subsystem complexity.