Scalable Networks on Chips (NoCs) are needed to match the ever-increasing communication demands of large-scale Multi-Processor Systems-on-chip (MPSoCs) for high-end wireless communications applications. The heterogeneous nature of on-chip cores, and the energy efficiency requirements typical of wireless communications call for application-specific NoCs which eliminate much of the overheads connected with general-purpose communication architectures. However, application-specific NoCs must be supported by adequate design flows to reduce design time and effort.In this paper we survey the main challenges in application-specific NoC design, and we outline a complete NoC design flow and methodology. A case study on a high complexity SoC demonstrates that it is indeed possible to generate an application-specific NoC from a high level specification in a few hours. Comparison with a hand-tuned solution shows that the automatically generated one is very competitive from the area, performance and power viewpoint, while design time is reduced from days to hours.
Application specific NoC design
BENINI, LUCA
2006
Abstract
Scalable Networks on Chips (NoCs) are needed to match the ever-increasing communication demands of large-scale Multi-Processor Systems-on-chip (MPSoCs) for high-end wireless communications applications. The heterogeneous nature of on-chip cores, and the energy efficiency requirements typical of wireless communications call for application-specific NoCs which eliminate much of the overheads connected with general-purpose communication architectures. However, application-specific NoCs must be supported by adequate design flows to reduce design time and effort.In this paper we survey the main challenges in application-specific NoC design, and we outline a complete NoC design flow and methodology. A case study on a high complexity SoC demonstrates that it is indeed possible to generate an application-specific NoC from a high level specification in a few hours. Comparison with a hand-tuned solution shows that the automatically generated one is very competitive from the area, performance and power viewpoint, while design time is reduced from days to hours.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.