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In this paper, we propose a mesh with a global bus as a multi-computer topology. This structure enhances the communication capability of the mesh and shows that the mesh with a global bus has more salient properties than the mesh, the hypercube, or other variants. These properties includes a small diameter, a relatively small degree, small average distance, suitability for broadcasting, small initial data distribution time, etc. We propose a dynamic load distribution algorithm to utilize the enhanced communication capability of the mesh with a global bus. Also, asynchronous bus control and arbitration logics are designed to support the proposed algorithm efficiently. It has been shown through simulation that the proposed dynamic load distribution is superior to the Receiver Initiated Diffusion method, previously known as the best to-date. The proposed algorithm shows better total task execution time and better processor utilization with a smaller number of task migrations.

In this paper, we propose a new method of implementing bus operations on mesh wormhole routers with small additional circuits. The bus, called a virtual bus, is set up dynamically upon a request by bypassing existing datapath in wormhole routers. After bus setup, it acts as a real bus by sharing the point-to-point links of the corresponding row/column of the mesh. Simulation results show that the 2D (two-dimensional) mesh with the virtual bus outperforms the mesh with separate buses.

Reduction of power dissipation in digital circuits is a subject of research in industry and academia. A major component of power dissipation in modern microprocessors is due to their large interconnect networks which are responsible for the distribution of power and clocks as well as for the intra-chip communication. Communication is realized by data and address buses. In this paper we (i) discuss an analytical model for energy estimation in deep submicron buses, (ii) present statistical energy measures based on the analytical model, (iii) derive the energy limits of communication through buses, (iv) and introduce energy efficiency measures of communication.