A 2-stage matching scheduler for a VOQ packet switch architecture

Virtual output queuing (VOQ) is a practical and high-performance packet switch architecture. There are many simple iterative arbitration algorithms proposed for the VOQ architecture. These algorithms either employ a 3-phase or a 2-phase handshaking scheme between the switch inputs and outputs. It has been shown that neither scheme can outperform the other in all traffic patterns. As a result, we propose a 2-stage matching algorithm that combines the benefit of both schemes, and also achieves the best desynchronization of arbiter pointers during their scheduling. We demonstrate that this new algorithm outperforms all the other iterative algorithms considered under various traffic models. We also propose a possible hardware implementation method of the algorithm.