Cranium: An interface for message passing on adaptive packet routing networks

Abstract

Cranium is a processor-network interface for an interconnection network based on adaptive packet routing. Adaptive networks relax the restriction that packet order is preserved; packets may be delivered to their destinations in an arbitrary sequence. Cranium uses two mechanisms: an automatic-receive interface for packet serialization and high performance, and a processor-initiated interface for flexibility. To minimize software overhead, Cranium is directly accessible by user-level programs. Protection for user-level message passing is implemented by mapping user-level handles into physical node identifiers and buffer addresses.