A new architecture for modular growability of ATM switches

A new asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching architecture is proposed that is characterized by the features of growability and modularity now requested by switching fabrics that need to grow according to the current user demands of broadband services. The architecture uses a small switch module as a basic building block to build up the growable ATM switch. Each basic module, which is a nonblocking structure provided with both input and output queueing, is split into two blocks, an input module and an output module, whose interconnection is provided by a central module on a time division fashion. The hardware feasibility of the central module is briefly discussed and the traffic performance of the modular architecture is evaluated