Performance evaluation for single‐ and semi‐layer multistage interconnection networks servicing multicast traffic by full multicast operation

Here a novel analytical method for performance prediction estimation of single‐ and multi‐layer multistage interconnection networks (MINs) under multicast environments is presented. The ‘Cell Replication While Routing’ is used as a packet routing technique and the ‘full multicast’ mode as transmission policy is employed in all the MINs under study. This model is developed for single‐layer MINs and is extended and applied to special types of multi‐layer MINs, called semi‐layer MINs, which support mixed traffic patterns such as unicast and multicast in uniform traffic conditions. The results confirm the significant performance saturation of single‐layer MINs and the improvement of corresponding performance indicators by semi‐layer MINs. The proposed analytical framework is anticipated to be a very useful tool in evaluating the performance of semi‐layer MINs in designing more efficient QoS networks. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.