Design Issues Of Interconnection Network

The following are the problems, which should be considered while preparing an interconnection network.

1)   Dimension and size of network:  It should be decided what the dimensionality of the network is and how many PE?s are there in the network i.e. with how many neighbours, each processor is linked.

2)   Symmetry of the network: It is essential to consider whether the network is symmetric or not i.e., whether all processors are linked with same number of processing elements, or the processing elements of edges or corners have different number of adjacent elements.

3)   What is data communication strategy?  Whether all processors are commune with each other in one time unit synchronously or asynchronously on require basis.

4)    Message Size:  What is message size is?  How much data a processor can deliver in one time unit.

5)   Start up time:  What is the time necessary to initiate the communication process.

6)   Data transfer time: How extensive does it take for a message to reach to another processor.  Whether this time is a function of link distance among two processors or it depends on the number of nodes coming in between.

7)   The interconnection network is static or dynamic:  It means whether the design of interconnection network is governed by algorithm or the algorithm allowing flexibility in choosing the path.