Method of establishing a redundant mesh network using a minimum number of links

摘要

A communication network provides data transfer between multiple nodes. Dual switches are established at each identified distributed node. Each dual switch has two single switches which are internally connected. The dual switches are configured into a ring structure. Single switches in each dual switch are connected to one of the single switches contained in each adjacent dual switch. Switching logic is programmed into each single switch thereby allowing for routing of data via multiple paths in the ring structure. The number of links required to establish the network is equal to 2N where N is the number of nodes contained in the network.