QNoC asynchronous router

An asynchronous router for quality-of-service Networks on Chip (QNoC) is presented. It combines multiple service levels (SL) with multiple equal-priority virtual channels (VC) within each SL. VCs are assigned dynamically per packet in each router. The router employs fast arbitration schemes to minimize latency. Analytical expressions for a generic NoC router performance, area and power are derived, showing linear dependence on the number of buffers and flit width. The analytical results agree with QNoC router simulation results. The QNoC router architecture and specific asynchronous circuits are presented. When simulated on a 0.18 mm process, the router throughput ranges from 1.8 to 20Gbps for flits 8–128 bits wide. & 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.