Performance analysis of the multiple input-queued packet switch with the restricted rule

The multiple input-queued (MIQ) switch is the switch which manages multiple (m) queues in each input port, each of which is dedicated to a group of output ports. Since each input port can switch up to m cells in a time slot, one from each queue, it hardly suffers from the head-of-line (HOL) blocking which is known to be the decisive factor limiting the throughput of the single input-queued (SIQ) switch. As a result, the MIQ switch guarantees enhanced performance characteristics as the number of queues m in an input increases. However, the service of multiple cells from an input could cause internal speedup or expansion of the switch fabric, diluting the merit of high-speed operation in the conventional SIQ scheme. The restricted rule is contrived to circumvent this side effect by regulating the number of cells switched from an input port. We analyze the performance of the MIQ switch employing the restricted rule. For the switch using the restricted rule, the closed formulas for the throughput bound, the mean cell delay and average queue length, and the cell loss bound of the switch are derived as functions of m, by generalizing the analysis for the SIQ switch by J.Y. Hui and E. Arthurs (see IEEE J. Select. Areas Commun., vol.SAC-5, p.1262-73, 1987).