Flat Neighborhood Network Puzzle

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Back in April 2000, we invented a new class of interconnection network topologies for use in parallel supercomputers: Flat Neighborhood Networks (FNNs). You can read more about them at http://aggregate.org/FNN/ -- the key property is that PCs are connected to switches such that any pair of PCs always has at least one switch in common. The tricky thing about FNNs is how hard they are to design. We actually use a genetic algorithm to design them... but now you have the chance to design them by hand as a little 3D-printed puzzle (which we originally made for our research exhibit at the IEEE/ACM SC15 conference). Typical FNNs connect hundreds of PCs and switches; this model has just six PCs and six 3-port switches. Your task is simply to connect all the switches to the PCs to form an FNN. It's harder than it looks.... ;-) A very straightforward print in PLA. More fun if you use different colors for the switches. We also printed them on a Wanhao I3 without any issues..

About the author:
ProfHankD
I'm a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky, best known for things like having built the world's first Linux PC cluster supercomputer in 1994... although around the 3D-printing world I'm probably best known for my HingeBox (which Tested popularized). My research group (Aggregate.Org) really is about improving computing systems by making the various SW+HW components work better together, which we do for many different types of computer systems: supercomputers, digital cameras, ... and now 3D printers. I had some experience with tool and die making using Bridgeport Series I CNCs as far back as the late 1970s, but my 3D printing adventure started in late 2012 with purchase of a MakerGear M2 for my lab to make custom camera parts in support of computational photography research. I now use multiple MakerGear M2 and Wanhao I3 3D printers, several semiconductor laser cutters, a 3040T CNC mill, a programmable paper cutter, and a small vacuum forming machine.

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