Virtual cut-through routing in toroidal interconnection networks

A simple network model with torus topology and the virtual cut-through routing have been considered in order to find out and analyze certain relationships that can be used as a starting point for a deeper theoretical analysis and further research. An expression for the saturation point (message generation rate at which network saturates) and approximate expressions for the latency as a function of the message generation rate have been obtained. Simulation experiments for various values of network parameters (mesh size, message path length, and message length) have been performed. It is found that if the mesh linear dimension is at least twice as large as the message path length (the distance from source to destination) the network behavior (latency and saturation point) does not depend on the mesh size. Both theoretical and empirical results show that the saturation point is inversely proportional to the message length.