A Benes Packet Network

Benes networks are constructed with simple switch modules and have many advantages, including small latency and requiring only an almost linear number of switch modules. As circuit-switches, Benes networks are rearrangeably non-blocking, which implies that they are full-throughput as packet switches, with suitable routing. Routing in Benes networks can be done by time-sharing permutations. However, this approach requires centralized control of the switch modules and statistical knowledge of the traffic arrivals. We propose a backpressure-based routing scheme for Benes networks, combined with end-to-end congestion control. This approach achieves the maximal utility of the network and requires only four queues per module, independently of the size of the network.

This is joint work with Dr. Longbo Huang.

Speaker Bio: Jean Walrand received his Ph.D. in EECS from UC Berkeley and has been on the faculty of that department since 1982. He is the author of An Introduction to Queueing Networks (Prentice Hall, 1988) and of Communication Networks: A First Course (2nd ed. McGraw-Hill,1998) and co-author of High-Performance Communication Networks (2nd ed, Morgan Kaufman, 2000), of Communication Networks: A Concise Introduction (Morgan & Claypool, 2010), and of Scheduling and Congestion Control for Communication and Processing Networks (Morgan & Claypool, 2010). His research interests include stochastic processes, queuing theory, communication networks, game theory and the economics of the Internet. Prof. Walrand is a Fellow of the Belgian American Education Foundation and of the IEEE and a recipient of the Lanchester Prize, the Stephen O. Rice Prize, and the IEEE Kobayashi Award.

Presentation Slides: PDF

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