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Introduction to Clos Networks

A Clos network is a multistage switching network that allows for connection between a large number of input and output ports using small switches. It consists of three stages - an ingress stage with m crossbar switches, a middle stage with k crossbar switches, and an egress stage with k crossbar switches. The Clos network can be non-blocking, meaning any input-output matching can be connected through the middle stage switches, as long as the number of middle stage switches k is greater than or equal to the number of ingress stage switches n. The Clos theorem states that a new connection can always be added without rearranging existing connections as long as k is greater than or equal to 2n-1.

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Erich Grohse-Holz
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208 views1 page

Introduction to Clos Networks

A Clos network is a multistage switching network that allows for connection between a large number of input and output ports using small switches. It consists of three stages - an ingress stage with m crossbar switches, a middle stage with k crossbar switches, and an egress stage with k crossbar switches. The Clos network can be non-blocking, meaning any input-output matching can be connected through the middle stage switches, as long as the number of middle stage switches k is greater than or equal to the number of ingress stage switches n. The Clos theorem states that a new connection can always be added without rearranging existing connections as long as k is greater than or equal to 2n-1.

Uploaded by

Erich Grohse-Holz
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction to Clos Networks Clos network is a multistage switching network. Figure 1 shows an example of a 3-stage clos network.

The advantage of such network is that connection between a large number of input and output ports can be made by using only small-sized switches. A bipartite matching between the ports can be made by conguring the switches in all stages. In gure 1, n represents the number of sources which feed into each of the m ingress stage crossbar switches. As can be seen, there is exactly one connection between each ingress stage switch and each middle stage switch. And each middle stage switch is connected exactly once to each egress stage switch.
mxm nxk
1 n 1 2 1

kxn
1

1 n

N=nxm k >= n

Figure 1:

3-stage clos network.

It can be shown that with k n, the clos network can be non-blocking like a crossbar switch. That is for each input-output matching we can nd an arrangement of paths for connecting the inputs and outputs through the middle-stage switches. The following theorem shows that for adding a new connection, there wont be any need for rearranging the existing connections so long as the number of middle-stage switches is large enough. Clos Theorem: If k 2n 1, then a new connection can always be added without rearrangement. Proof: Consider adding the nth connection between 1st stage Ia and 3rd stage Ob as shown in gure 2. We need to ensure that there is always some center-stage M available. If k > (n 1) + (n 1) , then there is always an M available. i.e., we need k 2n 1.
x x+n

Ia
n k

n 1 already in use at input and output.

Ob
n k

Figure 2:

Adding the nth connection.

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