2007 Nocs Config Slides

Trade-Offs in the Configuration of a
Network on Chip for Multiple Use-Cases

Andreas Hansson1, Kees Goossens2,3
May 8, 2007
Outline
Introduction
Consistency
Implementation
Results
Conclusions
2
NOCS'07 / Andreas Hansson
May 17, 2007
Introduction
3
May 17, 2007
Introduction
Systems on Chip (SoC) grow increasingly complex
Multiple applications are integrated on the same chip
Applications are started and stopped dynamically
4
May 17, 2007
Reconfiguration requirements
Means for performing changes
programmable architecture
control infrastructure
Ability to specify and compute configurations

multiple use-case resource binding
Facilities for controlling change

software libraries
hardware support
5
May 17, 2007
Consistency
6
May 17, 2007
Transactions
Intellectual property (IP) modules interact via transactions
Typically using protocols such as DTL, APB, AHB, OCP and AXI
A transaction is composed of request and response

Command, read data, write data, tags, etc
Transactions take place over a network connection

Bi-directional peer-to-peer interconnection
Enables end-to-end services
Comprises request channel and response channel
request
Master
Slave
response
7
May 17, 2007
Channels
A channel can be seen as a set of virtual wires
The mapping to physical resources is determined by
a path through the router network,

a queue in the destination network interface (NI),
the associated end-to-end flow control credits for the source NI, and
a set of TDM time-slots.
Channels are modified through three basic operations

Open, modify and close
8
May 17, 2007
Transactions revisited
The virtual-wire view of a channel is non-trivial to uphold
request
Master
Slave
response
9
May 17, 2007
Transactions occur on multiple levels and locations
High-level bus transactions between IP and NI protocol shell

Word-level handshakes from NI shell to kernel
Flits and link-level flow control in NI kernel and router network
End-to-end flow control between NI kernel and NI kernel
request
request
NI shell
(slave)
Master
response
NI kernel
Router
network
NI kernel
NI shell
(master)
Slave
response
10
May 17, 2007
Transactions occur on multiple levels and locations
High-level bus transactions between IP and NI protocol shell

Word-level handshakes from NI shell to kernel
Flits and link-level flow control in NI kernel and router network
End-to-end flow control between NI kernel and NI kernel
Transient state is spread across the whole interconnect

request
request
NI shell
(slave)
Master
response
NI kernel
Router
network
NI kernel
NI shell
(master)
Slave
response
11
May 17, 2007
Implementation
12
May 17, 2007
Hardware support
Run-time programmability is implemented by
registers in the NI kernels and shells (possibly also in the routers), and
a memory-mapped configuration port on each NI
NI
Master
Config
Master
Router
network
NI
Slave
NI
13
May 17, 2007
Hardware support
Configuration infrastructure is provided by the network itself

A dedicated NI port is looped back to its configuration port
Configuration is done via configuration connections
NI
Master
Config
Master
Router
network
NI
Slave
NI
14
May 17, 2007
Hardware support

NI
Master
Config
Master
Router
network
NI
Slave
NI
15
May 17, 2007
Hardware support

NI
Master
Config
Master
Router
network
NI
Slave
NI
16
May 17, 2007
Hardware support

NI
Master
Config
Master
Router
network
NI
Slave
NI
17
May 17, 2007
Hardware support

NI
Master
Config
Master
Router
network
NI
Slave
NI
18
May 17, 2007
Hardware support

NI
Master
Config
Master
Router
network
NI
Slave
NI
19
May 17, 2007
Hardware support

NI
Master
Config
Master
Router
network
NI
Slave
NI
20
May 17, 2007
Transaction-level configuration
Configuration must take place in a quiescent state
Cut on transaction boundaries, but
this might never occur (or take a very long time)
Add functionality in NI shell to

finish ongoing handshakes, then mask valid and accept
enable observability and control of the protocol state machine in the shell
21
May 17, 2007
Normal operation
MNIP
write read
write
read
master NI side
rdata
wdata
wdata
livetrns
in between transactions
SNIP
slave NI side
write
read
rdata
wdata
22
May 17, 2007
Transaction-level stopping
MNIP
write read
no new write
master NI side
finish rdata
rdata
wdata
wdata
blocked
livetrns
blocked;
no live transactions
SNIP
slave NI side
write
read
rdata
wdata
stop
stop_in
finish current transactions;
dont start any new transactions
23
May 17, 2007
Software support
Configuring the network involves individual registers in routers and NIs
Programming is tedious and error prone
Abstraction level must be raised
We propose the thereal Run-Time library

High-level (modify the topology of the application graph)
open_conn, close_conn, modify_conn
Low-level (provide hooks for e.g. a configuration manager)

set_flow_control, set_time_slots, get_live_transactions
24
May 17, 2007
Results
25
May 17, 2007
Setup time
Three different implementations of the configuration master
Ideal processor
ARM7TDMI@100MHz with pure read/write calls
ARM7TDMI@100MHz with ART library
26
May 17, 2007
Setup time
Three different implementations of the configuration master
Ideal processor
ARM7TDMI@100MHz with pure read/write calls
ARM7TDMI@100MHz with ART library
Network contribution to the configuration time is negligible
27
May 17, 2007
Guaranteed setup time

Configuration is traditionally done using best-effort services
Latency of configuration transactions is inherently unpredictable
Guaranteed service configuration connections

enable tight bounds on time for opening and modifying a connection
at a very limited hardware cost (<2%)
28
May 17, 2007
Variation in tear-down time

Opening and modifying connections is done without involving the IPs
Enabled by buffers in NIs together with end-to-end flow control
Time required can be bound by guaranteed service configuration connections
Closing a connection involves finishing in flight transactions

The IPs inherently affect the reconfiguration time
29
May 17, 2007
Conclusions
30
May 17, 2007
Conclusions
There is a need for a systematic approach to (re-)configuration of NoCs
Multiple use-case applications is a fact
Reusing the NoC to also carry configuration data

avoids instantiating a dedicated configuration interconnect
has limited performance cost
Reconfiguration hardware and software can be reused for debug purposes

Guaranteed configuration connections
enable predictable open and modify operations
with a low hardware cost
Connection closing is inherently dependent on the IP behaviour

Bounding the configuration time requires insertion and analysis of
configuration points
31
May 17, 2007
32
May 17, 2007
Binary size
Varying the number of NIs and the number of connections
33
May 17, 2007

2007 Nocs Config Slides

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Trade-Offs in the Configuration of a

Network on Chip for Multiple Use-Cases

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

Ability to specify and compute configurations

Facilities for controlling change

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

A transaction is composed of request and response

Transactions take place over a network connection

May 17, 2007

a path through the router network,

Channels are modified through three basic operations

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

High-level bus transactions between IP and NI protocol shell

May 17, 2007

High-level bus transactions between IP and NI protocol shell

Transient state is spread across the whole interconnect

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

Configuration infrastructure is provided by the network itself

May 17, 2007

Configuration infrastructure is provided by the network itself

May 17, 2007

Configuration infrastructure is provided by the network itself

May 17, 2007

Configuration infrastructure is provided by the network itself

May 17, 2007

Configuration infrastructure is provided by the network itself

May 17, 2007

Configuration infrastructure is provided by the network itself

May 17, 2007

Configuration infrastructure is provided by the network itself

May 17, 2007

Add functionality in NI shell to

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

We propose the thereal Run-Time library

Low-level (provide hooks for e.g. a configuration manager)

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

Network contribution to the configuration time is negligible

May 17, 2007

Guaranteed setup time

Guaranteed service configuration connections

May 17, 2007

Variation in tear-down time

Closing a connection involves finishing in flight transactions

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

Reusing the NoC to also carry configuration data

Reconfiguration hardware and software can be reused for debug purposes

Connection closing is inherently dependent on the IP behaviour

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007

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