Dual Stage Encoding Technique to Minimize Cross Coupling across NoC Links

Abstract

Network-on-Chip (NoC) has been a viable solution for resolving the complexities associated with inter-processor communications in a Chip Multi Processor (CMP). NoC accounts for a significant portion of the total power consumed by a CMP. In a standard NoC system, only a fraction of power dissipation occurs due to static/leakage, while the rest is due to dynamic power. Dynamic dissipation includes self-switching and coupling switching dissipations, with the latter accounting for a significant part of total power dissipated. Several coding methods exist to minimize this dynamic power dissipation in NoC links. In this paper, we propose Algorithm 1 to reduce self-switching transitions and Algorithm 2 & 3 to lower coupling switching transitions in between the serial links, with Encoder/decoder modules placed at Network-Interface(NI) level. Simulations done on Xilinx Vivado design suite showed a maximum reduction of 64% in coupling switching activity compared to existing schemes.