Virtual Nonblocking Switching Networks

Nonblocking networks are always favored to be used as switching networks whenever possible. There are three types of nonblocking networks, namely rearrangeable nonblocking networks, wide-sense nonblocking networks, and strictly nonblocking networks. Large-scale wide-sense nonblocking networks and strictly nonblocking networks may be infeasible due to their high cost. In contrast, rearrangeable networks are more scalable because of their much lower cost. However, rearrangeable networks are not suitable for circuit switching. In this paper, we introduce the concept of virtual nonblockingness. We show that a virtual nonblocking network functions like a strictly or widesense nonblocking network, but it is constructed with the cost of a rearrangeable nonblocking network. Our results indicate that for large-scale circuit switching applications, we only need to build virtual nonblocking networks.