HDDB: Hierarchical directed de Bruijn network

For systems with several thousands of processors, the node degree of regular networks become prohibitively large. Hierarchical interconnection networks (HINs) have been proposed with a view to maintain low node degree with increasing network size. This paper discusses a new HIN called the hierarchical directed de Bruijn (HDDB) network which is based on the directed de Bruijn graph. The topological characteristics and features of the HDDB network are presented. The HDDB network has a cost factor (in terms of degree diameter product) much lower than that of many of the existing networks. It is seen that the hierarchical design of the HDDB network allows easy mapping of algorithms designed for de Bruijn networks. The issues of routing, fault tolerance and expandability are also addressed. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.