Calculation of Blocking Probabilities in Multistage Interconnection Networks with Redundant Paths

The blocking probability of a network is a common measure of its performance. There exist means of quickly calculating the blocking probabilities of Banyan networks; however, because Banyan networks have no redundant paths, they are not inherently fault-tolerant, and so their use in large-scale multiprocessors is problematic. Unfortunately, the addition of multiple paths between message sources and sinks in a network complicates the calculation of blocking probabilities. A methodology for exact calculation of blocking probabilities for small networks with redundant paths is presented here, with some discussion of its potential use in approximating blocking probabilities for large networks with redundant paths.