A System Level Network-on-chip Model with MLDesigner

Multiprocessor architectures and platforms, such as, a multiprocessor system on chip (MPSoC) recently introduced to extend the applicability of the Moore's law, depend upon concurrency and synchronization in both software and hardware to enhance design productivity and system performance. With the rapidly approaching billion transistors era, some of the main problem in deep sub-micron technologies characterized by gate lengths in the range of 60-90 nm will arise from non scalable wire delays, errors in signal integrity and non-synchronized communication. These problems may be addressed by the use of Network on Chip (NOC) architecture for future System-on-Chip (SoC). We have modeled a concurrent architecture for a customizable and scalable NOC in a system level modeling environment using MLDesigner (from MLD Inc.). Varying network loads under various traffic scenarios were applied to obtain realistic performance metrics. We provide the simulation results for latency as a function of the buffer size. We have abstracted the area results for NOC components from its FPGA implementation. Modeled NOC architecture supports three different levels of quality-of-service (QoS).