AV ftp ftp.cs.city.ac.uk:papersangelangel-tec.ps

GP angel

MN March

YR 1992

PA 16

PL Barcelona, Spain.


TI The Meshnet Multi-stage Communications Network

AU Tim Wilkinson

AU Andy Whitcroft

AU Phil Windterbottom

AU Peter Osmon

RT Technical Report

OR CITY

AB MESHNET is a multi-stage communications network designed for
the TOPSY multicomputer and currently supporting a message
passing operating system, MESHIX. The network is circuit switched
and provides reliable point-to-point communications between
arbitrary nodes with transfer rates of up to twelve megabytes per
second. The network supports mutiple simultaneous communications
channels without any reduction in channel bandwidth. The paper
describes the "get-closer" routing policy, hand shaking protocols
and physical implementation of the network as a set of two IC's
mounted on node cards and connected via a passive backplane.
Experience of MESHNET usage within the system, and improvements
in progress, are briefly described.