wormhole routing

A property of a {message passing} system in which

each part of a message is transmitted independently and one

part can be forwarded to the next {node} before the whole

message has been received. All parts of a single message

follow the same route.

The independent parts are normally small, e.g. one 32-bit

word. This reduces the {latency} and the storage requirements

on each node when compared with {message switching} where a

node receives the whole message before it starts to forward it

to the next node. It is more complex than message switching

because each node must keep track of the messages currently

flowing through it.

Wormhole routing could potentially apply to {packets} in a

{packet switching} system so that forwarding of a packet could

start as soon as its destination is known, before the whole

packet had arrived. [Is this done?].

(1999-03-30)