A fast centralized computation routing algorithm for self-configuring NoC systems

Abstract

As technology evolves, networks-on-chip will need to survive to manufacturing faults in order to sustain yield. An effective configuration strategy implies the design of an efficient routing infrastructure, that enables a fast and efficient configuration of the NoC system to go around faulty links and switches. The strategy must minimize the overhead in resources and guarantee the entire system to be deadlock free. A centralized approach, through a monitoring controller is appealing as will get global network visibility. This paper proposes a centralized routing configuration strategy that meets the requirements by means of a fast configuration algorithm for the most common failure patterns. The strategy is designed towards the goals of reduced configuration time and high coverage support (maximum number of supported failure patterns). No extra resources (virtual channels) are needed for the effective final configuration of the system. Results show the effectiveness of the proposed configuration algorithm.