Communication/synchronisation mechanism for multiprocessor on Chip architectures

Inter-processors communication and synchronisation is a key factor to guarantee a good performance for critical applications on multi-core embedded architectures. A communication/ synchronisation mechanism based on mailboxes is proposed here. Its principle and implementation at a low hardware level are detailed. It´s efficiency is validated using the corner turn algorithm, frequently used in main embedded real time applications as signal and image processing for which reliable and efficient communication and synchronisation are highly required. The simplicity, the efficiency and the reduced cost of the proposed mechanism are confirmed. Its implementation in systemC is in progress for test and a quantitative evaluation of its performance.