IPNoSys III: o paradigma de redes definidas por software aplicado ao controle de um multiprocessador com modelo de execução não convencional

Abstract

The use of Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) in the communication infrastructure of multiprocessor systems (MPSoCs) has become a standard due to its scalability and support for parallel communications. These architectures allow the execution of applications formed by different tasks that communicate with each other, and the support for this communication has a fundamental role in the system’s performance. IPNoSys (Integrated Processing NoC System) is an unconventional architecture, with its own execution model, developed to exploit this NoC communication structure as a high-performance processing system. In the scenario of conventional computer networks, there was a convergence towards the use of the Software-Defined Network (SDN) paradigm, and a central component controls the network, which has an overview of the network and is programmable to change the network configuration to adapt to the specifics of the application or the needs of the programmer. Some works propose the use of the SDN paradigm in NoCs in order to create more flexible architectures. Thus, SDNoCs has a simpler communication infrastructure but is connected to a programmable controller that manages the network’s functioning. This work aims to present an architecture based on the IPNoSys execution model but using SDN concepts to provide network control. IPNoSys III is an NoC with a 2D mesh topology, which contains a communication unit and four processing cores on each node, with memory access, that executes packets in the IPNoSys format. An SDN controller, connected to all nodes, has an overview and manages the network to execute the routing algorithm and map tasks according to performance objectives. As a proof of concept, we developed a programming and simulation environment for this architecture in SystemC, and the evaluations performed show the operation and benefits obtained through the use of an SDN controller. The results shows IPNoSys III achieved a performance up to 26.45% better in execution time, if compared with other MPSoCs known in the literature.