Fault Tolerance in Binary Tree Architectures

Binary tree network architectures are applicable in the design of hierarchical computing systems and in specialized high-performance computers. In this correspondence, the reliability and fault tolerance issues in binary tree architecture with spares are considered. Two different fault-tolerance mechanisms are described and studied, namely: 1) scheme with spares; and 2) scheme with performance degradation. Reliability analysis and estimation of the fault-tolerant binary tree structures are performed using the interactive ARIES 82 program. The discussion is restricted to the topological level, and certain extensions of the schemes are also discussed.