Operating-system controlled network on chip

• Published in: Annual ACM IEEE Design Automation Conference: Proceedings of the 41st annual conference on Design automation; 07-11 June 2004 pp. 256 - 259
• Main Authors: Nollet, Vincent, Marescaux, Théodore, Verkest, Diederik, Mignolet, Jean-Yves, Vernalde, Serge
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY, USA ACM 07.06.2004; IEEE; Association for Computing Machinery
• Series: ACM Conferences
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Circuit properties; Clocks; Communication system operations and management; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Digital circuits; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Field programmable gate arrays; Integrated circuits; Joining processes; Network-on-a-chip; Networks > Network services > Network management; Networks > Network services > Network monitoring; Networks > Network types > Packet-switching networks; Operating systems; Personal digital assistants; Resource management; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Switches; Tiles; network on chip; operating system; MP-SoC; Performance evaluation; Interconnection network; Interference suppression; Circuit design; Integrated circuit; Network architecture; Field programmable gate array; System on a chip; Resource management; Flexibility; Switching; Computer aided design
• ISBN: 1581138288; 9781581138283; 1511838288
• ISSN: 0738-100X
• DOI: 10.1145/996566.996637

Managing a Network-on-Chip (NoC) in an efficient way is a challenging task. To succeed, the operating system (OS) needs to be tuned to the capabilities and the needs of the NoC. Only by creating a tight interaction can we combine the necessary flexibility with the required efficiency. This paper illustrates such an interaction by detailing the management of communication resources in a system containing a packet-switched NoC and a closely integrated OS. Our NoC system is emulated by linking an FPGA to a PDA. We show that, with the right NoC support, the OS is able to optimize communication resource usage. Additionally, the OS is able to diminish or remove the interference between independent applications sharing a common NoC communication resource.