Adaptive Low-Power Transmission Coding for Serial Links in Network-on-Chip

Abstract

The traditional Serialized Low Energy Transmission Coding (SILENT) is effective in serial links and sequential data patterns. However, it is ineffective in the multiplexed channel used on packet-switched networks because the data packets are packed and not sequential. In this paper, we propose a coding scheme for the overhead region in SILENT, and present an adapting mechanism to switch between the two coding schemes when data pattern changes, thus to minimize the power dissipation of serial links in network-on-chip. Experimental results indicate that our scheme for the overhead region is quite effective in reducing switching activity with data patterns in it. We also evaluate the efficiency of adapting coding method with two multimedia applications. Experimental results show that the method we proposed adapts to more data patterns and is more suitable for serial communication in network-on-chip.