FAST: an FPGA-based simulation testbed for ATM networks

Simulation of ATM switches and networks is a computationally demanding problem as compared to simulation of conventional packet-based networks, owing to the large number of cell events that need to be simulated in the former. To address this problem, we are developing a flexible hardware simulation testbed in the High-Speed Networks Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The testbed, called FAST (FPGA-based ATM simulation testbed), uses high-density field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to allow implementation of the key simulation components such as traffic generators, switching fabric, buffer management, traffic scheduling, congestion control mechanisms, and statistics recording in hardware. In the first version of the testbed (FAST-1), each board consists of 13 Altera FLEX devices (including 4 multichip modules), providing a total of 336,000 usable gates. Each board can be used to simulate an ATM switch. Multiple boards may be interconnected to simulate large ATM networks. Software tools are being developed for specifying the components of the underlying simulation model, such as the switch structure, traffic arrival process, traffic scheduling algorithm, and congestion control algorithm; synthesizing the specifications into the individual FPGAs; controlling and monitoring the simulation; and collecting and reporting statistics. The paper provides an overview of the architecture of the FAST-1 board, describes its key components, and discusses an example simulation of a traffic scheduling algorithm using the board