Flow Maximization for NoC Routing Algorithms

In this paper, we apply flow maximization and develop a minimal adaptive routing scheme towards lower average packet latencies in a network-on-chip. The minimal adaptive algorithm allows packets to be forwarded in multiple directions. Typical routing algorithms select the next hop path for each packet and then resolve conflicts between packets that have been selected to have the same next hop path. We propose a novel decision flow which combines routing direction and port arbitration while maximizing flow. Upon a 2-D mesh NoC, our implementation lowers average packet latencies across all packet injection rates of an NoC.