Patrick W. Dowd

Low-complexity multiple access protocols for wavelength-division multiplexed photonic networks

Media access control protocols for an optically interconnected star-coupled system with preallocated wavelength-division multiple-access channels are discussed. The photonic network is based on a passive star-coupled configuration in which high topological connectivity is achieved with low complexity and excellent fault tolerance. The channels are preallocated to the nodes with the proposed approach, and each node has a home channel it uses either for data packet transmission or data packet reception. The performance of a generalized random access protocol is compared to an approach based on interleaved time multiplexing. Semi-Markov analytic models are developed to investigate the performance of the two protocols. The analytic models are validated through extensive simulation. The performance is evaluated in terms of network throughput and packet delay with variations in the number of nodes, data channels, and packet generation rate. >

Wavelength division multiple access channel hypercube processor interconnection

A hypercube-based structure in which optical multiple access channels span the dimensional axes is introduced. 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 significant system complexity implications. Four star-coupled configurations 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 significant increases in performance yet at a reduction in communication subsystem complexity. >

High performance interprocessor communication through optical wavelength division multiple access channels

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 fiber communication. A highly fault tolerant system is created with good performance characteristics at a reduction in system complexity. The system capitalizes on the optical selfrouting characteristic of wavelength division multiple access to improve performance and reduce complexity. This paper examines typical optical multiple access channel implementations and shows that the star-coupled approach is superior due to optical power budget considerations. Star-coupled configurations which exhibit the optical self-routing characteristic are then studied. A hypercube based structure is introduced where optical multiple access channels span the dimensional axes. This severely reduces the required degree since only one 1/0 port is required per dimension, and performance is maintained through the high capacity characteristics of optical communication.

Random access protocols for high-speed interprocessor communication based on an optical passive star topology

A multiple-instruction multiple-data (MIMD) distributed memory parallel computer system environment is considered. Media access control protocols that maintain good performance with high capacity optical channels are investigated. Three examples of star-coupled structures are introduced, one of which exhibits optical self-routing. Self-routing single-step optically interconnected communication structures can be designed through the incorporation of agile laser diode sources and wavelength tunable optical filters in a wavelength-division multiple-access environment. Intermediary latencies typical of MIMD distributed memory systems are eliminated. The degree and diameter of the resulting structures are dramatically reduced, and the complexity of the communication subsystem is reduced since intermediate buffering and routing of packets are eliminated. >

A collisionless multiple access protocol for a wavelength division multiplexed star-coupled configuration: architecture and performance analysis

A collisionless wavelength-division multiple-access (WDMA) protocol for a passive star-coupled photonic network is introduced and shown to possess significant performance and flexibility advantages. A performance modeling technique based on a semi-Markov analytic model, which eliminates many of the unrealistic assumptions of past approaches, is introduced. The performance of the protocol is analyzed using this model and discrete-event simulation. Control channel access arbitration is achieved through time-division multiplexing (TDM), enabling all active nodes to transmit once every control cycle. The long synchronization delays typical of TDM systems are significantly reduced, because the control cycle length is proportional to the control packet size rather than the data packet size. The protocol eliminates packet collision and variable-sized data packets are supported without utilization degradation. >

Cellular radio channel assignment using a modified Hopfield network

The channel-assignment problem is important in mobile telephone communication. Since the usable range of the frequency spectrum is limited, the optimal channel-assignment problem has become increasingly important. A new channel-assignment algorithm using a modified Hopfield (1985, 1986) neural network is proposed. The channel-assignment problem is formulated as an energy-minimization problem that is implemented by a modified discrete Hopfield network. Also, a new technique to escape the local minima is introduced. In this algorithm, an energy function is derived, and the appropriate interconnection weights between the neurons are specified. The interconnection weights between the neurons are designed in such a way that each neuron receives inhibitory support if the constraint conditions are violated and receives excitatory support if the constraint conditions are satisfied. To escape the local minima, if the number of assigned channels are less than the required channel numbers (RCNs), one or more channels are assigned in addition to already assigned channels such that the total number of assigned channels is the same as the required number of channels in the cell even though the energy is increased. Various initialization techniques, which use the specific characteristics of frequency-assignment problems in cellular radio networks, such as cosite constraint (CSC), adjacent channel constraint (ACC), and cochannel constraint (CCC), and updating methods are investigated. In the previously proposed neural-network approach, some frequencies are fixed to accelerate the convergence time. In our algorithms, no frequency is fixed before the frequency-assignment procedure. This new algorithm, together with the proposed initialization and updating techniques and without fixing frequencies in any cells, has better performance results than the results reported previously utilizing fixed frequencies in certain cells.

Pre-allocation media access control protocols for multiple access WDM photonic networks

Media access control protocols for an optically interconnected star-coupled system with pre-allocated WDMA channels are introduced and compared. The photonic network is based on a passive star-coupled WDM–based configuration with high topological connectivity and low complexity. The channels are pre-allocated to the nodes with this approach, where each node has a home channel that it uses either for all data packet transmissions or all data packet receptions. A home channel may be shared if the number of nodes exceeds the number of channels in the system. This approach does not require both tunable transmitters and tunable receivers. The performance of a generalized random access protocol is compared to a protocol based on interleaved time multiplexing. Both protocols are designed to operate in a multiple-channel multiple-access environment and require each node to possess a tunable transmitter and a fixed (or slow tunable) receiver. Semi-markov analytic models are developed to investigate the performance of the two protocols. The analytic models are validated through simulation and performance is evaluated in terms of network throughput and packet delay with variations in system parameters.

LIGHTNING network and systems architecture

This paper describes a hierarchical WDM-based optical network testbed project that is being constructed to interconnect a large number of high performance computers to create a distributed shared memory environment. The objective of the architecture is to achieve scalability yet avoid the requirement of multiple wavelength tunable devices per node. It is a singlehop all-optical network; a packet remains in the optical form from source to destination. It features wavelength channel reuse at each level, allowing scalability to very large system sizes. It partitions the traffic between different levels of the hierarchy without electronic intervention in a combination of wavelength-division and space-division multiplexing. A significant advantage of this approach is its ability to vary dynamically the bandwidth provided to different levels of the hierarchy. Each node monitors the traffic intensities on each channel and can detect any temporal or spatial shift in traffic balance. LIGHTNING can dynamically reconfigure to balance the traffic at each level by reassigning wavelengths associated with each level in the hierarchy to a higher or lower level depending on need. Bandwidth reallocation is completely decentralized, achieving highly fault tolerant system behavior. This paper describes the system architecture, and the network and memory interface that have been developed in this project.

Channel Assignment in Cellular Radio Using Genetic Algorithms

The channel assignment problem has become increasingly important in mobile telephone communication. Since the usable range of the frequency spectrum is limited, the optimal assignment problem of channels has become increasingly important. Recently Genetic Algorithms (GAs) have been proposed as new computational tools for solving optimization problems. GAs are more attractive than other optimization techniques, such as neural networks or simulated annealing, since GAs are generally good at finding an acceptably good global optimal solution to a problem very quickly. In this paper, a new channel assignment algorithm using GAs is proposed. The channel assignment problem is formulated as an energy minimization problem that is implemented by GAs. Appropriate GAs operators such as reproduction, crossover and mutation are developed and tested. In this algorithm, the cell frequency is not fixed before the assignment procedures as in the previously reported channel assignment algorithm using neural networks. The average generation numbers and the convergence rates of GAs are shown as a simulation result. When the number of cells in one cluster are increased, the generation numbers are increased and the convergence rates are decreased. On the other hand, with the increased minimal frequency interval, the generation numbers are decreased and the convergence rates are increased. The comparison of the various crossover and mutation techniques in a simulation shows that the combination of two points crossover and selective mutation technique provides better results. All three constraints are also considered for the channel assignments: the co-channel constraint, the adjacent channel constraint and the co-site channel constraint. The goal of this paper is the assignment of the channel frequencies which satisfied these constraints with the lower bound number of channels.

A class of scalable optical interconnection networks through discrete broadcast-select multi-domain WDM

Passive star-coupled optical interconnects with wavelength-division multiplexing hold a strong potential for realizing flexible large-scale multicomputer networks. Virtual point-to-point regular connectivities can be defined and modified in a network with broadcast-select routing via distributed wavelength assignment to the nodes. The system size in this approach is bound by the number of separable wavelength channels. The paper proposes a network class that achieves scalability by grouping the nodes into clusters and employing a separate pair of broadcast and select couplers with each cluster. Interconnecting the clusters according to a regular topology results in a modular architecture with reconfigurable partitions and significantly reduced fiber link density. This approach efficiently combines wavelength-division with direct space interconnection, taking advantage of the properties of each. For the topologies of most significance to parallel computing, the paper studies conflict-free wavelength assignment that maximizes spatial reuse, identifies the valid network partitions, and evaluates the fiber link density and both space and wavelength channel throughput improvement. The results show that cube and shuffle networks take most advantage of the proposed approach in terms of maximizing wavelength reuse.<<ETX>>