A speculative transmission scheme for scheduling-latency reduction

Low latency is a critical requirement in some switching applications, specifically in parallel computer interconnection networks. The minimum latency in switches with centralized scheduling comprises two components, namely, the control-path latency and the data-path latency, which in a practical high-capacity, distributed switch implementation can be far greater than the cell duration. We introduce a speculative transmission scheme to significantly reduce the average control-path latency by allowing cells to proceed without waiting for a grant, under certain conditions. It operates in conjunction with any centralized matching algorithm to achieve a high maximum utilization and incorporates a reliable delivery mechanism to deal with failed speculations. The speculative transmission scheme is employed in a non-blocking N ×N R input-queued crossbar switch with R receivers per output. The control-path latency can be almost entirely eliminated for loads up to 50%. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)