A Bidirectional NoC (BiNoC) Architecture With Dynamic Self-Reconfigurable Channel

作者：Lan Ying Cherng^*; Lin Hsiao An; Lo Shih Hsin; Hu Yu Hen; Chen Sao Jie

来源：IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, 2011, 30(3): 427-440.

DOI：10.1109/TCAD.2010.2086930

• Interconnection networks
• multiprocessor systems-on-chip (MPSoCs)
• networks-on-chip (NoCs)
• on-chip communication
• reconfigurable architectures

A bidirectional channel network-on-chip (BiNoC) architecture is proposed to enhance the performance of on-chip communication. In a BiNoC, each communication channel allows to be dynamically self-reconfigured to transmit flits in either direction. This added flexibility promises better bandwidth utilization, lower packet delivery latency, and higher packet consumption rate. Novel on-chip router architecture is developed to support dynamic self-reconfiguration of the bidirectional traffic flow. This area-efficient BiNoC router delivers better performance and requires smaller buffer size than that of a conventional network-on-chip (NoC). The flow direction at each channel is controlled by a channel direction control (CDC) algorithm. Implemented with a pair of finite state machines, this CDC algorithm is shown to be high performance, free of deadlock, and free of starvation. Extensive cycle-accurate simulations using synthetic and real-world traffic patterns have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the BiNoC. These results exhibit consistent and significant performance advantage over conventional NoC equipped with hard-wired unidirectional channels.

• 出版日期2011-3
• 单位中国科学院电工研究所