Modelling of pipelined circuit switching in multicomputer networks

Several recent studies have revealed that pipelined circuit switching (PCS) can provide superior performance characteristics over wormhole routing. This paper proposes an original analytical model of PCS in k-ary n-cube networks augmented with virtual channel support. The model uses random walk theory to analyze the backtracking actions of the header flit during the path setup phase in PCS, and M/G/I queueing systems to compute the mean waiting time that a message experiences at a source before entering the network. Results from simulation experiments show close agreement to those predicted by the model.