Power-aware communication optimization for networks-on-chips with voltage scalable links

Networks-on-chip (NoC) is emerging as a practical development platform for future systems-on-chip products. We propose an energy-efficient static algorithm which optimizes the energy consumption of task communications in NoCs with voltage scalable links. In order to find optimal link speeds, the proposed algorithm (based on a genetic formulation) globally explores the design space of NoC-based systems, including task assignment, tile mapping, routing path allocation, task scheduling and link speed assignment. Experimental results show that the proposed design technique can reduce energy consumption by 28% on average compared with existing techniques.