A (large) multicast ATM switch with an external structure ofoutput queueing and an internal structure of buffered MINs (multistageinterconnection networks) is considered, where the buffered MINs (alsocalled a switching network) are composed of switching elements withshared buffer output queueing. A cell replication while routing schemeis used in the switch to implement the multicast function. In thispaper, we study the performance of the switch with multicast traffic,mainly via computer simulations. The multicast traffic can be random andbursty. From our study we found that for multicast traffic with atruncated geometric distribution of cell fanouts it has only a slightlyworse impact on the performance of the switching elements in isolationor in the last stage of the switching network. The multicast traffic hasno worse effect on the switch output buffer behaviour and cell delay inthe switching network. Moreover, traffic splitting can substantiallyimprove the switching network performance for highly bursty traffic.Some analytical approximations are given which could be useful in thedimensioning of switching networks
展开▼
