Designing and implementing a fast crossbar scheduler

Crossbar switches frequently function as the internal switching fabric of high performance network switches and routers. However, for fairness and high utilization, a crossbar needs an intelligent, centralized scheduler. We describe the design and implementation of a scheduling algorithm for configuring crossbars in input queued switches that support virtual output queues and multiple priority levels of unicast and multicast traffic. We carried out this design for Stanford University's Tiny Tera prototype, a fast, label-swapping packet switch. Its scheduler, designed to configure a crossbar once every 51 ns, implements the ESLIP scheduling algorithm, which consists of multiple round-robin arbiters.