A constant-time channel-assignment algorithm on reconfigurable meshes

A layout problem is specified. A two-sided printed circuit board featuring horizontal lines, called channels, on one side and vertical lines on the other. 2n components are considered along with an interconnection pattern specified in the form of n pairs of components. The interconnections are to be realized with horizontal and vertical wire runs according to specifications. The basic constraints is that two pairs can use the same channel only if their connections do not conflict with one another. The problem of interest is referred to as the channel-assignment problem and asks for a layout that minimizes the total number of channels. To overcome the inefficiency of long-distance communications among processors, some parallel architectures have been augmented by bus systems. If such a bus system can be dynamically changed to suit communication needs among processors, it is referred to as reconfigurable. The authors propose a constant-time algorithm to solve the channel-assignment problem of size n on a reconfigurable mesh of size n×n