Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, we introduce a new class of interconnection networks for multiprocessor systems which we refer to as Stretched-Hypercubes, or shortly the Stretched-Cube networks. These networks are obtained by replacing an edge of the well-known hypercube network with an array of processors. Two interesting features of the proposed topology are its area-efficient VLSI layout and superior scalability over the traditional hypercube network. Some topological properties of the proposed network are studied. In addition, an area-efficient VLSI layout for the stretched-cube is suggested and some comparisons between the proposed network and previously studied networks such as the star and hypercube... 

Technology scaling increases clock rates and die sizes; therefore, power dissipation is predicted to soon become the key limiting factor on the performance of single-chip designs. NoC as an efficient and scalable on-chip communication architecture for SoC architectures, enables integration of a large number of computational and storage blocks on a single chip. Since different applications impose different traffic models to the network, in this paper we will analyze the power and energy consumption of the most popular traffic models, i.e., Uniform, Local, HotSpot and First Matrix Transpose, in two famous and well designed topologies, mesh and torus. We will also compare these topologies with... 

In this paper, a fourth-order, 3.5-MHz, low-pass elliptic Gm-C filter employing low-noise, low-voltage transconductance amplifiers is presented. A new technique to enhance the linearity of the Gm-C filter is proposed. Furthermore, the nonlinear behavior of the filter caused by nonlinear behavior of transconductors with determined input amplitude is discussed. HSpice simulation results of the 1.8-V filter in a 0.18μm CMOS process show a THD of less than 44dB for 0.6Vpp input signal and an input-referred noise of less than 45 nV/√Hz in worst case. The current consumption of each OTA is 1.5-mA. © 2006 IEEE  

We purposed a new Network on Chip (NoC) architecture called Hierarchical Graph. The most interesting feature of this novel architecture is its simple implementation process. Furthermore, the flexible structure of this topology makes it suitable for use in application specified chips. To benchmark the suggested architecture with existing ones, basic models of physical implementation have been extracted and simulated using NS-2. The results compared with the common used architecture Mesh show that HG has better performance, especially in local traffics and high loads. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2005  

We unify virtual-method despatch (polymorphism implementation) and network packet-routing operations; virtual-method calls correspond to network packets, and network addresses are allocated such that routing the packet corresponds to dispatching the call. As the run-time routing structure is inherent in Network-on-Chip platforms, this unification implements polymorphism/or free.1  

In this paper, a processor allocation mechanism for NoC-based chip multiprocessors is presented. Processor allocation is a well-known problem in parallel computer systems and aims to allocate the processing nodes of a multiprocessor to different tasks of an input application at run time. The proposed mechanism targets optimizing the on-chip communication power/latency and relies on two procedures: processor allocation and task migration. Allocation is done by a fast heuristic algorithm to allocate the free processors to the tasks of an incoming application when a new application begins execution. The task-migration algorithm is activated when some application completes execution and frees up... 

In recent years, flash memory solid state disks (SSDs) have shown a great potential to change storage infrastructure because of its advantages of high speed and high throughput random access. This promising storage, however, greatly suffers from performance loss because of frequent ''erase-before-write'' and ''garbage collection'' operations. Thus, novel circuit-level, architectural, and algorithmic techniques are currently explored to address these limitations. In parallel with others, current study investigates replacing shared buses in multi-channel architecture of SSDs with an interconnection network to achieve scalable, high throughput, and reliable SSD storage systems. Roughly... 

Networks on chip (NoC) have been proposed as a solution to mitigate complex on-chip communication problems. NoCs are composed of intellectual properties (IP) which are interconnected by on-chip switching fabrics. A step in the design process of NoCs is hardware virtualization which is mapping the IP cores onto the tiles of a chip. The communication among the IP cores greatly affects the performance and power consumption of NoCs which itself is deeply related to the placement of IPs onto the tiles of the network. Different mapping algorithms have been proposed for NoCs which allocate a set of IPs to given network topologies. In these mapping algorithms, there is a restriction which limits IPs... 

In this paper, we propose a processor allocation mechanism for run-time assignment of a set of communicating tasks of input applications onto the processing nodes of a Chip Multiprocessor (CMP), when the arrival order and execution lifetime of the input applications are not known a priori. This mechanism targets the on-chip communication and aims to reduce the power and latency of the NoC employed as the communication infrastructure. In this work, we benefit from the advantages of non-contiguous processor allocation mechanisms, by allowing the tasks of the input application mapped onto disjoint regions (sub-meshes) and then virtually connecting them by bypassing the router pipeline stages of... 

We study the problem of mapping concurrent tasks of an application to cores of a chip multiprocessor that utilize circuit-switched interconnect and global asynchronous local synchronous (GALS) clocking domains. We develop a configurable algorithm that naturally handles a number of practical requirements, such as architectural features of the target platform, core failures, and hardware accelerators, and in addition, is scalable to a large number of tasks and cores. Experiments with several real life applications show that our algorithm outperforms manual mapping, integer linear programming-based mapping after ten days of solver run time, and a recent packet-switched network on chip-based... 

In this paper, a processor allocation mechanism for NoC-based chip multiprocessors is presented. Processor allocation is a well-known problem in parallel computer systems and aims to allocate the processing nodes of a multiprocessor to different tasks of an input application at run time. The proposed mechanism targets optimizing the on-chip communication power/latency and relies on two procedures: processor allocation and task migration. Allocation is done by a fast heuristic algorithm to allocate the free processors to the tasks of an incoming application when a new application begins execution. The task-migration algorithm is activated when some application completes execution and frees up... 

With continuous technology downscaling, the rate of radiation induced soft errors is rapidly increasing. Fast and accurate soft error vulnerability analysis in early design stages plays an important role in cost-effective reliability improvement. However, existing solutions are suitable for either regular (a.k.a address-based such as memory hierarchy) or irregular (random logic such as functional units and control logic) structures, failing to provide an accurate system-level analysis. In this paper, we propose a hybrid approach integrating architecture-level and logic-level techniques to accurately estimate the vulnerability of all regular and irregular structures within a microprocessor.... 

In recent years, flash memory olid state disks (SSDs) have shown a great potential to change storage infrastructure because of its advantages of high speed and high throughput random access. This promising storage, however, greatly suffers from performance loss because of frequent ''erase-before-write'' and ''garbage collection'' operations. Thus, novel circuit-level, architectural, and algorithmic techniques are currently explored to address these limitations. In parallel with others, current study investigates replacing shared buses in multi-channel architecture of SSDs with an interconnection network to achieve scalable, high throughput, and reliable SSD storage systems. Roughly speaking,... 

In this paper, a method for fast processing of data stream tuples in parallel execution of continuous queries over a multiprocessing environment is proposed. A copy of the query plan is assigned to each of processing units in the multiprocessing environment. Dynamic and continuous routing of input data stream tuples among the graph constructed by these copies (called the QueryMega Graph) for each input tuple determines that, after getting processed by each processing unit (e.g., processor), to which next processor it should be forwarded. Selection of the proper next processor is performed such that the destination processor imposes the minimum tuple latency to the corresponding tuple, among... 

In nanometer-scale process technologies, the effects of process variations are observed in Multiprocessor System-on-Chips (MPSoC) in terms of variations in frequencies and leakage powers among the processors on the same chip as well as across different chips of the same design. Traditionally, worst-case values are assumed for these parameters and then a deterministic optimization technique is applied to the MPSoC application under design. We show that such worst-case-based approaches are not optimal with the increasing variation observed at system-level, and instead, statistical approaches should be employed. We consider the problem of simultaneously choosing MPSoC architecture and task... 

In this paper, we propose a processor allocation mechanism for run-time assignment of a set of communicating tasks of input applications onto the processing nodes of a Chip Multiprocessor (CMP), when the arrival order and execution lifetime of the input applications are not known a priori. This mechanism targets the on-chip communication and aims to reduce the power and latency of the NoC employed as the communication infrastructure. In this work, we benefit from the advantages of non-contiguous processor allocation mechanisms, by allowing the tasks of the input application mapped onto disjoint regions (sub-meshes) and then virtually connecting them by bypassing the router pipeline stages of... 

In this work we introduce Heterogeneous Interconnect for Low Resolution Cache Access (Helia). Helia improves energy efficiency in snoop-based chip multiprocessors as it eliminates unnecessary activities in both interconnect and cache. This is achieved by using innovative snoop filtering mechanisms coupled with wire management techniques. Our optimizations rely on the observation that a high percentage of cache mismatches could be detected by utilizing a small subset but highly informative portion of the tag bits. Helia relies on the snoop controller to detect possible remote tag mismatches prior to tag array lookup. Power is reduced as a) our wire management techniques permit slow... 

Network-on-Chips (NoCs) usually use regular mesh-based topologies.Regular mesh topologies are not always efficient because of power and area constraints which should be considered in designing system-on-chips.To overcome this problem,irregular mesh NoCs are used for which the design of routing algorithms is an important issue.This paper presents a novel routing algorithm for irregular mesh-based NoCs called "i-route". In contrast to other routing algorithms,this algorithm can be implemented on any arbitrary irregular mesh NoC without any change in the place of IPs. In this algorithm, messages are routed using only 2 classes of virtual channels. Simulation results show that using only 2... 

Nowadays networks-on-chip are emerging as a hot topic in IC designs with high integration. In addition to popular mesh topologies, other structures can also be considered especially in 3D VLSI design. The Kautz topology is one of the interconnection architectures for multiprocessors. In this paper we propose an efficient three dimensional layout for a novel 2D mesh structure based on the Kautz topology. Simulation results show that by using the third dimension, performance and latency can be improved compared to the 2D VLSI implementation. ©2008 IEEE  

Asynchronous microprocessors are more flexible to adapt to physical parameters, and have lower power consumption than synchronous microprocessors. In this paper we will introduce the design of an asynchronous microprocessor (V8-uRISC) and explore its design process compared to synchronous design. The processor is synthesized by Persia, an automatic tool for synthesizing asynchronous circuits. We have performed full functional test at various levels of design and synthesis. Our results show that an area overhead is expected for the asynchronous design as the cost for lower power and more robustness. ©2007 IEEE