Fault-tolerant Batcher-Banyan packet switch

Batcher-Banyan networks have recently been adopted to construct internally non-blocking switching fabrics of future broadband networks. A single fault in these networks can destroy their functionality. Since many users share the same network, high availability in these networks is desirable. Furthermore, the repairing of these networks might not be affordable if carried out frequently. Therefore fault-tolerance capability in these networks is an important consideration when designing ATM switches. In this paper we present a fault-tolerant Batcher-Banyan network that has the following features: fault-tolerance at each stage of the network; low and fixed amount of delay; maintenance of cell sequence; simple self routing; and reconfiguration on the fly.