While designing a communication network, we need to consider the following characteristics:
- Topology
- Routing algorithm
- Switching strategy
- Flow control
Let's look at these characteristics in more detail.
Properties of communication networks
Topology
Topology refers to how nodes (bridges, switches, and infrastructure devices) are connected. Some common topologies include crossbar, ring, 2D mesh, 3D mesh, higherD mesh, 2D torus, 3D torus, higherD torus, hypercube, tree, butterfly, perfect shuffle, and dragonfly.
In the case of the crossbar topology, every node in the network is connected to every other node (though they may not be connected directly). Thus, messages can be passed via a number of routes to avoid any conflicts...