Modeling and Evaluating the Performance of the Bufferless Optical Interconnection Network (BOIN)

Most of the present optical interconnect networks within the high performance computers require either the buffering and opto-electonic conversion of the data packets or the pre-assigning of the optical path from the source to destination, which to a certain extent influence the performance metrics such as latency and throughput. Aiming at the limitation mentioned above, a hybrid optical-electrical interconnection for high performance computer system named Bufferless Optical Interconnection Network (BOIN) is brought forward. Basing on the topology and link control protocol of the BOIN, a performance model is setup. According to this model, the network throughput and delay are analyzed and evaluated. Simulation shows that BOIN has advantages over the other two networks. It can deliver high throughput at low latency, which can well satisfy the need for high performance computing systems.