A Fault-Tolerant Communication Architecture for Distributed Systems

Abstract

A communication architecture for distributed processors is presented here. This architecture is based on a new topolgy we have developed, one which interconnects n nodes by using rn links where the maximum internode distance is log, n, and where each node has, at most, 2r, I/O ports. It is also shown that this network is fault-tolerant, being able to tolerate up to (r – 1) node failures. One of the particularly attractive features of this network is that it allows for simple routing as well as for easy distributed fault-diagnosis. Algorithms are also developed here for the purpose of routing messages from node to node; these are useful both with and without the presence of faults in the network. A procedure is developed, too, whereby each fault-free node can diagnose the faulty nodes independently, without the use of any central observer. Copyright © 1982 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.