A new switch scheduling algorithm to improve QoS in the multimedia router

The multimedia router (MMR) is aimed at providing QoS to multimedia flows, which coexist with conventional best-effort traffic, by means of a single-chip, compact router designed for cluster and local area environments. As the router is based on a multiplexed crossbar, hardware efficient link and switch scheduling algorithms are needed. Their goal is to achieve a high utilization, while the QoS needed by the multimedia connections is guaranteed. This work presents a novel switch scheduling algorithm, the candidate conflict arbiter (CCA), that can be efficiently implemented in the MMR. Simulation results show that this proposal beats other previous algorithms in terms of maximum throughput achieved while still providing QoS to the multimedia flows.