A joint optimization method for NoC topology generation

The increasing demand on efficient intra-chip communication of multicore systems has driven the interconnection structure to evolve from bus/ring to Network-on-Chip (NoC). NoC design is fundamentally based on network topology generation and floorplanning. This paper proposes a joint optimization method to generate network topologies based on the floorplanning of heterogeneous IP cores for a given application-specific NoC. This method starts with clustering the heterogeneous IP cores according to their communication workloads using fuzzy clustering. It proceeds to apply a genetic algorithm to optimize the floorplanning by minimizing power consumption and/or chip area. By adding a router to each cluster of IP cores, network topologies are further generated via connecting routers based on the principles of scale-free networks. Experiments with a video processing application show that the optimized floorplanning of IP cores can be achieved by either minimizing the power consumption or chip area. An OPNET simulator is used to evaluate the performance of the NoC designed based on the proposed method. Experimental results demonstrate that the performance requirements of the application-specific NoC can be satisfied.