DMNI: A specialized network interface for NoC-based MPSoCs

摘要

Current proposals of NoC-based MPSoC adopt an NI (Network Interface) interconnected to a DMA (Direct Memory Access) module to enable the communication between processors through the NoC. The adoption of both modules decouples computation from communication, and a standard interface at the NI provides an abstract way for designers to connect new cores. However, this architecture is inherited from bus-based architectures and can be optimized, by removing unnecessary interfaces, signals, and registers. This paper presents a specialized communication interface for NoC-based MPSoCs, called DMNI (Direct Memory Network Interface). The DMNI merges the functionalities of the DMA and the NI into a single component, directly connecting the NoC router with the processor memory. To avoid stalls in the communication, the design of the DMNI supports simultaneous packet reception and transmission. A simplified and generic programming interface exposes the DMNI services to the software layer. Results show a reduction in the silicon area and performance improvement in the packet transmission.