Hotspot Avoidance Through Runtime Reconfiguration in Network-on-chip Designs

Hotspot Avoidance Through Runtime Reconfiguration in Network-on-chip Designs
Author: G. M. Link
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2004
Genre: Integrated circuits
ISBN:

Abstract: "As technology scales, thermal issues are becoming a significant factor in chip design. Ever increasing transistor densities and increasing leakage currents result in high power dissipation, and require increasingly large and expensive cooling systems to maintain chip operating temperatures within safe bounds. Many existing thermal management techniques focus on reducing the overall power consumption of the chip by throttling performance, eventually resulting in an overall reduction in chip temperature. These techniques, while effective, often do not address location-specific temperature problems referred to as hotspots. Recent research into hotspots has shown that different functional units in general purpose processors can have significantly different temperature profiles, and that moving workloads between units can reduce the creation of hotspots on the die. In this paper, we demonstrate that hotspots also exist in more uniform reconfigurable architectures such as Network on chip (NoC) Designs. We propose the use of dynamic runtime reconfiguration to shift the hotspot-inducing computation periodically and make the thermal profile more uniform. Different approaches to reconfiguration are proposed and evaluated for their effectiveness using a target NoC designed for wireless communication. Our analysis shows that dynamic reconfiguration is an effective technique in reducing hotspots for NoCs."

Routing Algorithms in Networks-on-Chip

Routing Algorithms in Networks-on-Chip
Author: Maurizio Palesi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2013-10-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1461482747

This book provides a single-source reference to routing algorithms for Networks-on-Chip (NoCs), as well as in-depth discussions of advanced solutions applied to current and next generation, many core NoC-based Systems-on-Chip (SoCs). After a basic introduction to the NoC design paradigm and architectures, routing algorithms for NoC architectures are presented and discussed at all abstraction levels, from the algorithmic level to actual implementation. Coverage emphasizes the role played by the routing algorithm and is organized around key problems affecting current and next generation, many-core SoCs. A selection of routing algorithms is included, specifically designed to address key issues faced by designers in the ultra-deep sub-micron (UDSM) era, including performance improvement, power, energy, and thermal issues, fault tolerance and reliability.

Predictable and Runtime-Adaptable Network-On-Chip for Mixed-critical Real-time Systems

Predictable and Runtime-Adaptable Network-On-Chip for Mixed-critical Real-time Systems
Author: Sebastian Tobuschat
Publisher: Cuvillier Verlag
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2019-03-07
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3736989792

The industry of safety-critical and dependable embedded systems calls for even cheaper, high performance platforms that allow flexibility and an efficient verification of safety and real-time requirements. In this sense, flexibility denotes the ability to (online) adapt a system to changes (e.g. changing environment, application dynamics, errors) and the reuse-ability for different use cases. To cope with the increasing complexity of interconnected functions and to reduce the cost and power consumption of the system, multicore systems are used to efficiently integrate different processing units in the same chip. Networks-on-chip (NoCs), as a modular interconnect, are used as a promising solution for such multiprocessor systems on chip (MPSoCs), due to their scalability and performance. Hence, future NoC designs must face the aforementioned challenges. For safety-critical systems, a major goal is the avoidance of hazards. For this, safety-critical systems are qualified or even certified to prove the correctness of the functioning under all possible cases. A predictable behavior of the NoC can help to ease the qualification process (e.g. formal analysis) of the system. To achieve the required predictability, designers have two classes of solutions: isolation (quality of service (QoS) mechanisms) and (formal) analysis. For mixed-criticality systems, isolation and analysis approaches must be combined to efficiently achieve the desired predictability. Isolation techniques are used to bound interference between different application classes. And analysis can then be applied verifying the real-time applications and sufficient isolation properties. Traditional NoC analysis and architecture concepts tackle only a subpart of the challenges—they focus on either performance or predictability. Existing, predictable NoCs are deemed too expensive and inflexible to host a variety of applications with opposing constraints. And state-of-the-art analyses neglect certain platform properties (e.g. they assume sufficient buffer sizes to avoid backpressure) to verify the behaviour. Together this leads to a high over-provisioning of the hardware resources as well as adverse impacts on system performance (especially for the non safety-critical applications), and on the flexibility of the system. In this work we tackle these challenges and develop a predictable and runtime-adaptable NoC architecture that efficiently integrates mixed-critical applications with opposing constraints. Additionally, we present a modeling and analysis framework for NoCs that accounts for backpressure (i.e. full buffers in network routers delaying the progress of network packets). This framework enables to evaluate the performance and reliability early at design time. Hence, the designer can assess multiple design decisions and trade-offs (such as area, voltage, reliability, performance) by using abstract models and formal approaches.

Networks on Chips

Networks on Chips
Author: Giovanni De Micheli
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2006-08-30
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0080473563

The design of today's semiconductor chips for various applications, such as telecommunications, poses various challenges due to the complexity of these systems. These highly complex systems-on-chips demand new approaches to connect and manage the communication between on-chip processing and storage components and networks on chips (NoCs) provide a powerful solution. This book is the first to provide a unified overview of NoC technology. It includes in-depth analysis of all the on-chip communication challenges, from physical wiring implementation up to software architecture, and a complete classification of their various Network-on-Chip approaches and solutions. * Leading-edge research from world-renowned experts in academia and industry with state-of-the-art technology implementations/trends * An integrated presentation not currently available in any other book * A thorough introduction to current design methodologies and chips designed with NoCs

VLSI Design and Test

VLSI Design and Test
Author: S. Rajaram
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 722
Release: 2019-01-24
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9811359504

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 22st International Symposium on VLSI Design and Test, VDAT 2018, held in Madurai, India, in June 2018. The 39 full papers and 11 short papers presented together with 8 poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 231 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections named: digital design; analog and mixed signal design; hardware security; micro bio-fluidics; VLSI testing; analog circuits and devices; network-on-chip; memory; quantum computing and NoC; sensors and interfaces.

Principles and Practices of Interconnection Networks

Principles and Practices of Interconnection Networks
Author: William James Dally
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 581
Release: 2004-03-06
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0080497802

One of the greatest challenges faced by designers of digital systems is optimizing the communication and interconnection between system components. Interconnection networks offer an attractive and economical solution to this communication crisis and are fast becoming pervasive in digital systems. Current trends suggest that this communication bottleneck will be even more problematic when designing future generations of machines. Consequently, the anatomy of an interconnection network router and science of interconnection network design will only grow in importance in the coming years.This book offers a detailed and comprehensive presentation of the basic principles of interconnection network design, clearly illustrating them with numerous examples, chapter exercises, and case studies. It incorporates hardware-level descriptions of concepts, allowing a designer to see all the steps of the process from abstract design to concrete implementation. Case studies throughout the book draw on extensive author experience in designing interconnection networks over a period of more than twenty years, providing real world examples of what works, and what doesn't. Tightly couples concepts with implementation costs to facilitate a deeper understanding of the tradeoffs in the design of a practical network. A set of examples and exercises in every chapter help the reader to fully understand all the implications of every design decision.

Interconnection Networks

Interconnection Networks
Author: Jose Duato
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Total Pages: 626
Release: 2003
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1558608524

Foreword -- Foreword to the First Printing -- Preface -- Chapter 1 -- Introduction -- Chapter 2 -- Message Switching Layer -- Chapter 3 -- Deadlock, Livelock, and Starvation -- Chapter 4 -- Routing Algorithms -- Chapter 5 -- CollectiveCommunicationSupport -- Chapter 6 -- Fault-Tolerant Routing -- Chapter 7 -- Network Architectures -- Chapter 8 -- Messaging Layer Software -- Chapter 9 -- Performance Evaluation -- Appendix A -- Formal Definitions for Deadlock Avoidance -- Appendix B -- Acronyms -- References -- Index.

Networks on Chip

Networks on Chip
Author: Axel Jantsch
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2007-05-08
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0306487276

As the number of processor cores and IP blocks integrated on a single chip is steadily growing, a systematic approach to design the communication infrastructure becomes necessary. Different variants of packed switched on-chip networks have been proposed by several groups during the past two years. This book summarizes the state of the art of these efforts and discusses the major issues from the physical integration to architecture to operating systems and application interfaces. It also provides a guideline and vision about the direction this field is moving to. Moreover, the book outlines the consequences of adopting design platforms based on packet switched network. The consequences may in fact be far reaching because many of the topics of distributed systems, distributed real-time systems, fault tolerant systems, parallel computer architecture, parallel programming as well as traditional system-on-chip issues will appear relevant but within the constraints of a single chip VLSI implementation.

Reconfigurable Computing

Reconfigurable Computing
Author: Joao Cardoso
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2011-08-17
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1461400619

As the complexity of modern embedded systems increases, it becomes less practical to design monolithic processing platforms. As a result, reconfigurable computing is being adopted widely for more flexible design. Reconfigurable Computers offer the spatial parallelism and fine-grained customizability of application-specific circuits with the postfabrication programmability of software. To make the most of this unique combination of performance and flexibility, designers need to be aware of both hardware and software issues. FPGA users must think not only about the gates needed to perform a computation but also about the software flow that supports the design process. The goal of this book is to help designers become comfortable with these issues, and thus be able to exploit the vast opportunities possible with reconfigurable logic.

Photonic Network-on-Chip Design

Photonic Network-on-Chip Design
Author: Keren Bergman
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2013-08-13
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1441993355

This book provides a comprehensive synthesis of the theory and practice of photonic devices for networks-on-chip. It outlines the issues in designing photonic network-on-chip architectures for future many-core high performance chip multiprocessors. The discussion is built from the bottom up: starting with the design and implementation of key photonic devices and building blocks, reviewing networking and network-on-chip theory and existing research, and finishing with describing various architectures, their characteristics, and the impact they will have on a computing system. After acquainting the reader with all the issues in the design space, the discussion concludes with design automation techniques, supplemented by provided software.