Generic Network Interfaces for Plug and Play NoC Based Architecture

Abstract

The emergence of the Network on chip (NoC) as a communication backbone for System on chip (SoC) based designs requires standardized interfaces for integrating IP (Intellectual Property) cores with diverse communication requirements. These interfaces have to be simple and generic for rapid plug and play implementation with minimal overhead. In this paper we describe the design and implementation of a programmable fabric based Network interface architecture. We have mapped the JPEG compression application on our architecture to demonstrate the feasibility of our design. The network interfaces seamlessly connect existing IP modules (Processor core, JPEG core, Memory core and UART core) to the NoC. The network, IP cores and the network interfaces are implemented on an FPGA device.