HTML version of Scripted Foils prepared 18 Sept 1995

Foil 40 Glossary of Useful Concepts in Communication Systems

From Second set of lectures on CPS615 Parallel Computing Overview 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.

Table Font Size


© Northeast Parallel Architectures Center, Syracuse University, npac@npac.syr.edu

If you have any comments about this server, send e-mail to webmaster@npac.syr.edu.

Page produced by wwwfoil on Fri Aug 15 1997