An efficient unicast-based multicast algorithm in two-port wormhole-routed 2D mesh networks

In this paper, we study multiport wormhole routed multicomputers where nodes are able to send multiple messages into the network at a time. Moreover, we discuss the Hamiltonian-path routing in wormhole-routed mesh/torus networks. We propose efficient unicast-based multicast algorithms in multiport wormhole-routed multicomputers which are characterized by 2D mesh/torus topology and Hamiltonian path routing. The proposed multiport multicast algorithms exploit the distance-insensitive properly of wormhole routing technology. The two-port multicast algorithm can deliver a multicast message to m destinations in at most [log/sub 3/(m+1)]+1 message-passing steps, avoiding contention among the constituent unicast messages. This paper analyzes the performance of the proposed multicast algorithm in wormhole-routed mesh networks with two-port communication architecture. It also shows that its performance is enhanced by log/sub 2/ 3 over one-port multicast algorithm in terms of multicast latency. The proposed multicast algorithms are easily applicable to wormhole-routed torus networks.