Multi-objective Tabu Search based topology generation technique for application-specific Network-on-Chip architectures

Abstract

This paper presents a power and performance multi-objective Tabu Search based technique for designing application-specific Network-on-Chip architectures. The topology generation approach uses an automated technique to incorporate floorplan information and attain accurate values for wirelength and area. The method also takes dynamic effects such as contention into account, allowing performance constraints to be incorporated during topology synthesis. A new method for contention analysis is presented in this work which makes use of power and performance objectives using a Layered Queuing Network (LQN) contention model. The contention model is able to analyze rendezvous interactions between NoC components and alleviate potential bottleneck points within the system. Several experiments are conducted on various SoC benchmark applications and compared to previous works.