A system for routing a data packet between N elements includes N network interfaces respectively connected to the N elements, with N being an even integer, and an on-chip packet-switched communication network arranged in a ring structure. The packet-switched communication network includes N routers respectively connected to the N interfaces, and N pairs of opposite uni-directional ring links. Each pair of ring links couples two adjacent routers in the ring structure, and each ring link provides two virtual channels. There are N/2 pairs of opposite uni-directional crossing links, with each pair of crossing links coupling two diametrically opposite routers in the ring structure. Processing circuitry is distributed within the N routers and the N network interfaces for determining direction of the data packet to be transmitted over a path from a source element to a destination element in the ring structure, and for determining at each router in the path which virtual channel is to be used to avoid deadlocks in the transmission.