一种基于Mesh结构的新型层次化片上网络拓扑结构

A Novel Mesh-based Hierarchical Topology for Network-on-Chip

针对片上网络(NoC)较远距离节点路由跳数较大导致的网络功耗和面积过大问题,该文通过分析Mesh和集中式Mesh(CMesh)结构特性,提出一种基于Mesh的新型层次化CHMesh结构。该结构分两层,底层以Mesh方式互连,并划分为多个路由区域,以保证邻近节点的通信需求,上层以CHMesh方式通过中间节点将底层各个区域进行互连,以降低网络直径。设计了针对性最短路径CHXY路由算法,该算法复杂度低,能够避免死锁。性能分析和仿真实验表明,在非均匀流量模式下,CHMesh结构的吞吐量比传统Mesh和Ref-Mesh分别提高约60%和10%,在较大规模片上网络中更有优势。

As the number of modules in System-on-Chip （SoC） increases, the topology is more likely to suffer from excessive end-to-end hop-counts, causing an increase of power consumption and area overhead. Concerning this issue, a novel Mesh-based Hierarchical topology called CHMesh is proposed, which is divided into two levels. The bottom level is interconnected with Mesh and divided into several regions, so as to guarantee communications of adjacent nodes, and the upper level employs intermediate nodes to promote the interconnection among different bottom routing regions with CMesh, so as to decrease the network diameter. Correspondingly, this article elaborates on a shortest-path CHXY routing algorithm, which has a low complexity and can realize deadlock avoidance. Performance analysis and experimental results demonstrate that, compared with traditional Mesh and Ref-Mesh, the CHMesh can increase the average throughput by about 60% and 10% respectively under non-uniform traffic patterns, presenting more advantages on large-scale NoC.