RapidIO Connections - July 2002
Membership Spotlight
Rydal Publishes Latency Numbers for RapidIO Performance; Drexel First University to Host RapidIO Event
With momentum building toward high-performance switch fabrics as the emerging I/O technology of choice, engineering studies examining real-world performance are an important undertaking. Rydal Research and Development, Inc., a member of the RapidIO Trade Association since 2000, has devoted the time and resources to explore and publish multiple papers defining RapidIO performance. The company also has elicited the support of Drexel University and its Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, which became the first academic institution to host a RapidIO event when it sponsored the trade association's quarterly meetings in June 2002.
The results of the Rydal and Drexel studies indicate latencies as low as 92 ns for a remote 64-bit read request/response transaction system. Under the lead of Warren Rosen at Rydal, the team simulated two network topologies. The first was a simple network with an 8-port switch and 8 processing nodes, followed by a more extensive network with five 8-port switches and 24 processing nodes. The details and results are discussed in the paper, "Simulation Experiments of a High-Performance RapidIO-based Processing Architecture" presented in October 2001 at the IEEE International Symposium on Network Computing and Applications, NCA 2001. The paper is available through Drexel University.
An updated version of the study also was presented as an invited paper in March at the 2002 IEEE Sarnoff Symposium on Advances in Wired and Wireless Communications. This second paper, "A Low-latency 10 Gb/s Data Network for Highly Parallel Signal Process," by W. Rosen, J. Adams, V. Adams, C. Katsinis, D. Hecht and S. Sukhtankar is available in the symposium proceedings, pp. 86-89.
Rydal Research (www.RydalResearch.com) has won major R&D contracts from the U.S. Air Force and Navy to develop a variety of networking technologies including low-cost 10 Gb/s optical links, ultra-low latency network interfaces, and lightweight communications protocols. Its Rydal, Pa. research facilities are closely associated with the regional NSF-sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) in Advanced Communications, which provides access to a full range of modeling, simulation and measurement tools for the analysis of advanced networking and processing hardware.
This close association with the academic world and Rydal's reputation for objective research were important elements in forming the working relationship with Drexel University. A private institution in Philadelphia, Drexel offers undergraduate through Ph.D. programs and conducts applied research focusing on R&D problems that significantly impact information management.
Drexel (www.drexel.edu) became the first academic institution to support RapidIO when it hosted the quarterly steering committee and working group meetings in June 2002 on its campus. The meetings, part of the ongoing governance of the trade association, provided the opportunity for RapidIO representatives to interact in a setting conducive to dialog and innovative development.
