Saturn: a terabit packet switch using dual round-robin

Input-output buffering with a moderate speedup has been widely considered as the most feasible solution for large-capacity switches. We propose a new terabit/sec packet switch and call it the Saturn (Switch At Terabit Using dual Round-robiN) switch. It uses a simple dual round-robin arbitration scheme to schedule packet and achieves high throughput and low statistical delay bound. It employs a bit-sliced crossbar fabric to switch packets at 10 Gbit/s at inputs and outputs, and adopts a novel token-tunneling technique to arbitrate contending packets at high speed (e.g,, within 10 ns), thus achieving a switch capacity of more than one terabit/sec by existing electronic technology.