In
electronics
Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...
, a crossover switch or matrix switch is a
switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
connecting multiple inputs to multiple outputs using complex array matrices designed to switch inputs to outputs such that each output is connected to only one input, but usually inputs may be connected to multiple outputs. There are blocking and non-blocking types of cross-over switches. In a non blocking switch, the switch allows arbitrary interconnections and disconnections to each output at all times whereas a blocking switch new connections can be constrained by other connections.
These switches can be
microelectromechanical systems
MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) is the technology of microscopic devices incorporating both electronic and moving parts. MEMS are made up of components between 1 and 100 micrometres in size (i.e., 0.001 to 0.1 mm), and MEMS devices ...
, electrical, or
nonlinear optical systems, and are used in electronics and
fiber optic
An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...
circuits, as well as some
optical computer
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...
s.
A
banyan switch is one type of cross-over switch. Their complexity depends on the topology of the individual switches in a switch matrix (how wide it is by how many 'plies' or layers of switches it takes), to implement the desired crossover logic.
Formula
Typical crossover matrices follow the formula: an N×N Banyan switch uses (N/2) log N elements. Other formulas are used for differing number of cross-over layers, and scaling is possible, but becomes very large and complex with large N×N arrays.
CAD and
AI can be used to take the drudgery out of these designs.
Measurement
The switches are measured by how many stages, and how many up/down sorters and crosspoints. Switches often have buffers built in to speed up switching speeds. A typical switch may have a 2×2 and 4×4 down sorter, followed by an 8×8 up sorter, followed by a 2×2 crosspoint banyan switch network, resulting in a 3-level sorting for a 3-stage banyan network switch. The future is moving to larger arrays of inputs and outputs needed in a very small space.
See also
*
Clos switch
*
Crossbar switch
In electronics and telecommunications, a crossbar switch (cross-point switch, matrix switch) is a collection of switches arranged in a Matrix (mathematics), matrix configuration. A crossbar switch has multiple input and output lines that form a ...
References
Switches
Microtechnology
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