Network-cognitive traffic control: A fluidity-aware on-chip communication
Journal
Electronics (Switzerland)
Journal Volume
9
Journal Issue
10
Pages
1-25
Date Issued
2020
Author(s)
Abstract
A novel network-on-chip (NoC) integrated congestion control and flow control scheme, called Network-Cognitive Traffic Control (NCogn.TC), is proposed. This scheme is cognizant of the fluidity levels in on-chip router buffers and it uses this measurement to prioritize the forwarding of flits in the buffers. This preferential forwarding policy is based on the observation that flits with higher levels of fluidity are likely to arrive at their destinations faster, because they may require fewer routing steps. By giving higher priority to forward flits in high-fluidity buffers, scarce buffer resources may be freed-up sooner in order to relieve on-going traffic congestion. In this work, a buffer cognition monitor is developed to rapidly estimate the buffer fluidity level. An integrated congestion control and flow control algorithm is proposed based on the estimated buffer fluidity level. Tested with both synthetic traffic patterns as well as industry benchmark traffic patterns, significant performance enhancement has been observed when the proposed Network-Cognitive Traffic Control is compared against conventional traffic control algorithms that only monitor the buffer fill level. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Subjects
Buffer fluidity; Cognitive communication; Multi processors; Networks on chip; Traffic control
SDGs
Type
journal article