Distributed Diagnosis of Faults in a Multiple Path Multistage Interconnection Network

Multistage Interconnection Networks (MINs) have been widely used in multiprocessor systems, and the testing of MINs has been investigated by many researchers. However, in previous works, the test results are distributed among all processors while, to diagnose a network, all those results are needed. This poses a problem for a truly distributed system. In this paper, a distributed testing and diagnosis scheme for a multipath MIN is studied. By the proposed method, the testing of the network can be done by all processors independently, in a manner that neither interrupts the normal operation nor needs extra hardware.