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Power and performance optimization of voltage/frequency island-based networks-on-chip using reconfigurable synchronous/bi-synchronous FIFOs

Published: 17 May 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Distributing a single global clock across a chip while meeting the power requirements of the design is a troublesome task due to shrinking technology nodes associated with high clock frequencies. To deal with this, network-on-chip (NoC) architectures partitioned into several voltage-frequency islands (VFIs) have been proposed. To interface the islands on a chip, operating at different frequencies, a complex bi-synchronous FIFO design is inevitable. However, these FIFOs are not needed if adjacent switches belong to the same clock domain. In this paper, a Reconfigurable Synchronous/Bi-Synchronous (RSBS) FIFO is proposed which can adapt its operation to either synchronous or bi-synchronous mode. The FIFO is presented by three different scalable and synthesizable design styles and, in addition, some techniques are suggested to show how the FIFO could be utilized in a VFI-based NoC. Our analysis reveal that the RSBS FIFOs can help to achieve up to 15% savings in the average power consumption of NoC switches and 29% improvement in the total average packet latency in the case of MPEG-4 encoder application, when compared to a non-reconfigurable architecture.

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Cited By

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  • (2013)Developing a power-efficient and low-cost 3D NoC using smart GALS-based vertical channelsJournal of Computer and System Sciences10.1016/j.jcss.2012.09.00479:4(440-456)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2013
  • (2011)Power and Area Optimization of 3D Networks-on-Chip Using Smart and Efficient Vertical ChannelsIntegrated Circuit and System Design. Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization, and Simulation10.1007/978-3-642-24154-3_28(278-287)Online publication date: 2011
  • (2010)An efficient VFI-based NoC architecture using Johnson-encoded Reconfigurable FIFOsNORCHIP 201010.1109/NORCHIP.2010.5669474(1-5)Online publication date: Nov-2010

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  1. Power and performance optimization of voltage/frequency island-based networks-on-chip using reconfigurable synchronous/bi-synchronous FIFOs

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          cover image ACM Conferences
          CF '10: Proceedings of the 7th ACM international conference on Computing frontiers
          May 2010
          370 pages
          ISBN:9781450300445
          DOI:10.1145/1787275
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          Published: 17 May 2010

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          Author Tags

          1. globally asynchronous locally synchronous (gals)
          2. low-power and high-performance design
          3. networks-on-chip (nocs)
          4. reconfigurable fifos
          5. voltage/frequency islands (vfis)

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          May 17 - 19, 2010
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          View all
          • (2013)Developing a power-efficient and low-cost 3D NoC using smart GALS-based vertical channelsJournal of Computer and System Sciences10.1016/j.jcss.2012.09.00479:4(440-456)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2013
          • (2011)Power and Area Optimization of 3D Networks-on-Chip Using Smart and Efficient Vertical ChannelsIntegrated Circuit and System Design. Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization, and Simulation10.1007/978-3-642-24154-3_28(278-287)Online publication date: 2011
          • (2010)An efficient VFI-based NoC architecture using Johnson-encoded Reconfigurable FIFOsNORCHIP 201010.1109/NORCHIP.2010.5669474(1-5)Online publication date: Nov-2010

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