A New Routing Algorithm for Irregular Mesh NoCs without Virtual Channel

Abstract

Network-on-Chips (NoCs) usually use regular mesh-based topologies. Regular mesh topologies are not always efficient because of power and area constraints which should be considered in designing system-on-chips. To overcome these problems, irregular mesh NoCs are used for which the design of routing algorithms is an important issue. This paper presents a novel routing algorithm for irregular mesh-based NoCs called Anomalous Routing for Mesh (ARM). In contrast to other routing algorithms, this algorithm can be implemented on any arbitrary irregular mesh NoC and can tolerate solid irregular areas without using virtual channels. Furthermore, the proposed scheme misroutes messages both in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions to reduce channel contention on an oversized node (ON). The main idea of this algorithm is borrowed from odd-even turn model and FT-Cube algorithm. Moreover, proposed algorithm is deadlock-free and live lock-free for non-overlapping irregular areas in mesh NoC interconnection network.