Performance Evaluation of Broadcast Algorithms in All-Port 2D Mesh Networks

Broadcast is among the most primitive collective communication operations of any interconnection network. Broadcast algorithms for the mesh topology have been widely reported in the literature. However, most existing algorithms have been studied in one-port and within limited conditions, such as light traffic loads. In contrast, this study simulates the broadcast operations, taking into account a wide range of traffic loads. Also, the performance evaluation of meshes in the presence of unicast and broadcast traffic is presented in this paper. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to consider the issue of broadcast latency at both the network and node levels. A new model for broadcast in all-port wormhole-routed meshes is proposed. The model is based on the Extended Dominating Nodes algorithm (EDN). Results are shown from a simulation study confirming that the new 2way-EDN broadcast algorithm exhibits superior performance over some existing algorithms.