Predictability Enhancement in Non-preemptive NoCs using Selective Packet Splitting

Performance predictability enhancement in Network-on-chip routers are usually brought about by employing techniques like Time Division Multiplexing or Virtual Channels, which comes with overheads in area and energy which can be substantial. With this paper, we present an alternative approach that can emulate the effect of preemption without the major area overheads which are associated with preemption implementation. The technique employs routers capable of splitting low priority packets (rather than preempting) when a higher priority packet is encountered which is destined to use the same link. This splitting would hence allow the high priority packet to have the same effect as if the low priority packet was preempted while having lower implementation overhead as the splitting logic is simpler. We test the technique with different traffic scenarios and load levels, and analyse performance merits as well as implementation overheads.