System-level design of network-on-chip architectures

Multi-processor System-on-Chip (MPSoC) architectures in future will be implemented in less than 50 nm technology and include tens to hundreds of processing element blocks operating in the multi-GHz range. The on-chip interconnection network will be a key factor in determining the performance and power consumption of these multi-core devices. Packet switched interconnection networks or Network-on-Chip (NoC) has emerged as an attractive alternative to traditional bus-based architectures for satisfying the communication requirements of these MPSoC architectures. The key challenge in NoC design is to produce a complex, high performance and low energy architecture under tight time to market requirements. The NoC architectures would support the communication demands of hundreds of cores under stringent performance constraints. In addition to the complexity, the NoC designers would also have to contend with the physical challenges of design in nanoscale technologies. The NoC design problem would entail a joint optimization of the system-level floorplan and power consumption of the network. All these factors coupled with the requirement for short turn around times raises the need for an intellectual property (IP) re-use methodology that is well supported with design and optimization techniques, and performance evaluation models. This chapter introduces the concept of NoC and presents the various elements of the IP-based system-level methodology required for its design.