Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM 2012 conference on Applications, technologies, architectures, and protocols for computer communication
ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review - Special october issue SIGCOMM '12
LIGERO: A light but efficient router conceived for cache-coherent chip multiprocessors
ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization (TACO) - Special Issue on High-Performance Embedded Architectures and Compilers
DeBAR: deflection based adaptive router with minimal buffering
Proceedings of the Conference on Design, Automation and Test in Europe
A heterogeneous multiple network-on-chip design: an application-aware approach
Proceedings of the 50th Annual Design Automation Conference
Deflection routing in 3D network-on-chip with limited vertical bandwidth
ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems (TODAES) - Special Section on Networks on Chip: Architecture, Tools, and Methodologies
Towards optimal adaptive routing in 3D NoC with limited vertical bandwidth
Proceedings of the Sixth International Workshop on Network on Chip Architectures
TornadoNoC: A lightweight and scalable on-chip network architecture for the many-core era
ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization (TACO)
| Hi-index | 0.00 |
A conventional Network-on-Chip (NoC) router uses input buffers to store in-flight packets. These buffers improve performance, but consume significant power. It is possible to bypass these buffers when they are empty, reducing dynamic power, but static buffer power, and dynamic power when buffers are utilized, remain. To improve energy efficiency, buffer less deflection routing removes input buffers, and instead uses deflection (misrouting) to resolve contention. However, at high network load, deflections cause unnecessary network hops, wasting power and reducing performance. In this work, we propose a new NoC router design called the minimally-buffered deflection (MinBD) router. This router combines deflection routing with a small "side buffer," which is much smaller than conventional input buffers. A MinBD router places some network traffic that would have otherwise been deflected in this side buffer, reducing deflections significantly. The router buffers only a fraction of traffic, thus making more efficient use of buffer space than a router that holds every flit in its input buffers. We evaluate MinBD against input-buffered routers of various sizes that implement buffer bypassing, a buffer less router, and a hybrid design, and show that MinBD is more energy efficient than all prior designs, and has performance that approaches the conventional input-buffered router with area and power close to the buffer less router.