Abstract: This paper presents a new architecture for small to medium ATM switches at 150Mb/s based on the channel grouping principle. The channel grouping is used to enhance performances and centralized hardware implements port allocation procedure. The detailed description of the algorithm and the proposed hardware realization are given. A simple and flexible standard random access memory based hardware is suggested for the central control unit realization. In addition, it is shown that duplication further increases performances and provides graceful degradation in the case of failure.
Keywords: ATM, routing network, switch architecture.