Lightweight Emulation of Virtual Channels using Swaps
Mayank Parasar, Tushar Krishna · 2017
Virtual Channels (VCs) are a fundamental design feature across networks, both on-chip and off-chip. They provide two key benefits - deadlock avoidance and head-of-line (HoL) blocking mitigation. However, VCs increase the router critical path, and add significant area and power overheads compared to simple wormhole routers. This is especially challenging in the era of energy-constrained many-core chips.