High performance fault tolerant switching system for multimedia satellite and terrestrial communications switches

摘要

An apparatus for routing a plurality of cells. The apparatus includes a plurality of inputs, wherein the plurality of cells are received at the inputs. Each of the cells contains routing information. The apparatus also includes a plurality of outputs, wherein the outputs are associated with a plurality of destinations such that each output corresponds to a destination within the plurality of destinations. The apparatus employs a routing means for routing the cells received by the inputs through the apparatus to the outputs using the routing information contained in the cells. The routing means includes a number of single path switching matrixes in which each single path switching matrix has a plurality of stages. A portion of the these stages are dilated such that two or more cells may be routed to the same destination.