Authors:
- Siavoosh Payandeh Azad
- Karl Janson
- Behrad Niazmand
- Tsotne Putkaradze
License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3
Copyright (C) 2016 as collective work done by Siavoosh Payandeh Azad, Karl Janson, Behrad Niazmand and Tsotne Putkaradze
This project implements a simple NoC router which does not use any Virtual Channels (VCs). The router is intended for a 2D Network on-chip and has 5 input and 5 output ports (North-N, East-E, West-W, South-S and Local-L). It is composed of the following components:
- Input buffer implemented as First-In-First-Out (FIFO) per each input port
- Routing computation unit implemented using Logic-Based Distributed Routing (LBDR) (no need for using routing table) per each input port
- Arbitration unit (Arbiter) implemented using a Finite State Machine (FSM) based on Round-Robin (RR) prioritization, per each output port
- Crossbar Switch (Xbar) implemented as Multiplexers (MUX) per each output port
The folder structure of the project is as follows:
"RTL" folder : includes the VHDL RTL files for the FIFO, LBDR, Arbiter, Xbar and the Router (as top module).
"scripts" folder : includes scripts in Python:
- network_gen_parameterized.py
- -D [size]: sets the size of the network
- -NI: adds Network Interface to the network ports
- -P: uses router_parity instead of base-router
- -FI: adds fault injectos
- Customized_network folder contains:
- customized_router_gen: generates customized routers (base-router) for specific places in the network
- network_gen_customized: generates a network out of customized routers
- -D [size]: sets the size of the network
"TB" folder : includes individual Test-benches for different modules of the router (FIFO, Arbiter and the Router as top module) This folder also includes the "TB_Package.vhd" file which defines the functions and procedures defined in VHDL for generation and reception of packets during simulation (used for implementing traffic patterns)
This part is not valid at this time. It used to work when the T_handshake was 2 clk cycles. now we changed the handshake time to 3 but we have not verified that.
Latency model of the router: (Similar to Dally's theory)
T_total = #hops x T_r + [ L/b x T_handshake ]
where:
- T_r: router's delay to transmit one header flit. is always 3
- #hops: # of links
- L: packet length
- b: bandwidth
- T_handshake: always 3 clk cycles