Dynamically Reconfigurable NoC using a deadlock-free flexible routing algorithm with a low hardware implementation cost

NoC-Based Dynamic Reconfigurable Systems (DRSs) implemented over FPGA devices change their configuration at the run time by re-positioning or replacing the existing processing modules into the network. Several Dynamically Reconfigurable NoCs (DRNoCs) in the literature, propose adaptive routing algorithms in order to handle the network structure alteration. Nevertheless, their implementation cost is severe in terms of chip area and time required to reconfigure the routing scheme, which results in non well-scalable solutions for DRSs. In this work, we propose an alternative DRNoC approach, based on a traditional 2-D mesh, using a logic-based implementation of the Flexible Direction Order Routing (FDOR) algorithm, thus inheriting its simplicity and deadlock-freedom. Several scenarios have been considered in order to prove the applicability of the FDOR algorithm in the context of a DRNoC accompanied by performance and synthesis results. In conclusion, we demonstrate that FDOR is a suitable solution for DRNoCs.