In this paper we present a network interface for an on-chip network. Our network interface decouples computation from communication by offering a shared-memory abstraction, which is independent of the network implementation. We use a transaction-based protocol to achieve backward compatibility with existing bus protocols such as AXI, OCP and DTL. Our network interface has a modular architecture, which allows flexible instantiation. It provides both guaranteed and best-effort services via connections. These are configured via network interface ports using the network itself, instead of a separate control interconnect. An example instance of this network interface with 4 ports has an area of 0.143mm2 in a 0.13?m technology, and runs at 500 MHz.
Citation:
Andrei Rădulescu, John Dielissen, Kees Goossens, Edwin Rijpkema, Paul Wielage, "An Efficient On-Chip Network Interface Offering Guaranteed Services, Shared-Memory Abstraction, and Flexible Network Configuration," date, vol. 2, pp.20878, Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition Volume II (DATE'04), 2004