Network-on-Chip: A New Paradigm for System-on-Chip Design

Network-on-chip is a novel category for on-chip communication where the abstraction of layered protocols is utilized to modularize the communication design. This also implies that the computation and communication are separated from each other. In this invited paper, the motivation for such an approach is explained, terminology within network-on-chip area is clarified, some of the proposed networks are analyzed, and the network-on-chip design aspects discussed.