Background:
Network on chip is proposed as new reusable and scalable communication system
for applications with important number of IPs. The NoC architecture characteristics are based on
several factors: the implementation strategy of IPs, the power dissipation, the placement of IPs, data
transfer time, the requirements of the given application, etc. The N×M Mesh topology combined with
the XY routing algorithm are generally chosen in many studies. Hardware IPs proposed in the literature,
for various applications as example video encoders, operates at different frequencies and generally implemented
according to several strategies and different bus sizes. Connecting these IPs using the same
communication system is very difficult.
Methods:
In this paper, we present a new topology based on multi-layer mesh topology and adapted for
video coding applications. The proposed topology exploits the video coding information regarding
groups of cores that communicate through two cores only. The idea is to use a specific NoC for each
group of cores and connect the NoCs with bridge in the positions of two communication cores. The
choice of parameters in each NoC depends on the characteristic of IPs in the same group in order to
maximize communication adaptivity and performance.
Results:
Synthesis results show that the proposed multi-layer mesh topology NoC uses much less resources
than the traditional NxM mesh topology NoC.
Conclusion:
This reduction in term of resources is assured by the considerable reduction in the length
and number of global interconnects, resulting in an increase in the performance and decrease in the
power consumption and area of wire limited circuits.
