Implementation of a VC-merge capable crossbar switch on MPLS over ATM

Recently, as the Internet and its services grow rapidly, a new switching mechanism, MPLS (multiprotocol label switching), has been introduced by IETF. In this paper, we propose a scalable hardware architecture for a high-speed crossbar switch capable of VC-merging in MPLS networks. A scheduler configuring the crossbar switch in input-queued fashion has been designed and implemented. The switch has MIQs (multiple input queues) at input ports. In the designed switch, there are eight VC-merge capable modules, one for each output port. The proposed architecture is modeled in VHDL, synthesized on SYNOPSYS, and fabricated using the SAMSUNG 0.5 /spl mu/m SOG process.