An easily reconfigurable, circuit switched connection network

The design of an easily reconfigurable, centrally controlled circuit-switched connection network is described. It is used as the interconnection network of a highly parallel processor, which in turn forms the intermediate (IUA) prototype. For an N-input N-output system, all of the possible N/sup N/ mappings of the inputs onto the outputs can be realized. Several interconnection patterns can be stored in the control memory of the interconnection network at once, allowing the network controller to change the connection pattern of the intermediate level processors with exactly one instruction. Any of the stored connection patterns can be completely overwritten by the controller with a new pattern from external memory by a series of instructions. If, however, only a subset of a connection pattern in the control memory needs to be changed, the controller can do so by directly changing just those connections that need to be modified. A 64*64 network built using custom chips is described in detail and some options for building larger networks are discussed.<>