Refined search enable (RSE) TCAM design used in network routing table

Abstract

This paper presents a low-power ternary content adressable memory (TCAM) design, in which we propose refined search enable (RSE scheme that aims to reduce the TCAM power dissipated in the search-line (SL) switching activity. By exploiting the vertically continuous “don't-care” feature, the DCG scheme can effectively reduce the average SL power consumption per switch. The refined search enables (RSE) technique to eliminate the unnecessary SL switching activity in the quiet pattern. By reducing both the SL switching activity and the average switching power, the proposed design can minimize the TCAM SL power consumption. For a 128 32 TCAM, the best configuration we examined shows that when the gating granularity is 16, with a 1.3% search performance improvement, The RSE technique can achieve 72% 79% SL energy reduction.