Routing performance enhancement in hierarchical torus network by link-selection algorithm

A hierarchical torus network (HTN) is a 2D-torus network of multiple basic modules, in which the basic modules are 3D-torus networks that are hierarchically interconnected for higher-level networks. The static network performance of the HTN and its dynamic communication performance using the popular dimension-order routing algorithm have already been evaluated and shown to be superior to the performance of other conventional and hierarchical interconnection networks. In this paper, we propose a link-selection algorithm for efficient use of physical links of the HTN, while keeping the link-selection algorithm as simple as the dimension-order routing algorithm. We also prove that the proposed algorithm for the HTN is deadlock-free using three virtual channels. We evaluate the dynamic communication performance of an HTN using dimension-order routing and link-selection algorithms under various traffic patterns. We find that the dynamic communication performance of an HTN using the link-selection algorithm is better than when the dimension-order routing algorithm is used.