Fall Research Expo 2021

The Formalization of Permutation Networks

Permutation networks are circuits of configurable switches, such that their output is always a permutation of the input. They were originally developed for telecommunications and later found applications in cryptography. Permutation networks have unique properties:

  1. Configurable → n configuration bits, n! Permutations
  2. Reversible → Involution 
  3. Scalable → Poly-logarithmic number of configurations
  4. Parametric polymorphic → Generalization of types
  5. The number of inputs = the number of outputs → Must be a power of 2

In order to prove and work with permutation networks, we used a proof based programming language called Coq. We used Coq to prove and work with specific features relevant to our research.

PRESENTED BY
PURM - Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program
Engineering & Applied Sciences 2024
Advised By
Stephanie Weirich
ENIAC President's Distinguished Professor of Computer and Information Science
Steve Zdancewic
Schlein Family President's Distinguished Professor and Associate Chair
Join Christa for a virtual discussion
PRESENTED BY
PURM - Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program
Engineering & Applied Sciences 2024
Advised By
Stephanie Weirich
ENIAC President's Distinguished Professor of Computer and Information Science
Steve Zdancewic
Schlein Family President's Distinguished Professor and Associate Chair

Comments

Christa used a Benes Network to describe all the properties of a permutation network. She went over how to traverse through the network and what each part meant.