Basic HTML version of Foils prepared 21 October 1995

Foil 14 Glossary of Useful Concepts in Communication Systems

From New CPS615 Foils-- B 28 August 95 CPS615 Basic Simulation Track for Computational Science -- Fall Semester 95. by Geoffrey C. Fox


1 Useful terms include:
2 Scalability: Can network be extended to very large systems? Related to wire length (synchronization and driving problems), degree (pinout)
3 Fault Tolerance: How easily can system bypass faulty processor, memory, switch, or link? How much of system is lost by fault?
4 Blocking: Some communication requests may not get through, due to conflicts caused by other requests.
5 Nonblocking: All communication requests succeed. Sometimes just applies as long as no two requests are for same memory cell or processor.
6 Latency (delay): Maximal time for nonblocked request to be transmitted.
7 Bandwidth: Maximal total rate (MB/sec) of system communication, or subsystem-to-subsystem communication. Sometimes determined by cutsets, which cut all communication between subsystems. Often useful in providing lower bounds on time needed for task.

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© on Tue Oct 7 1997