A Region-Tree Based Fault-tolerant Routing Algorithm for Network-on-Chip

Fault-tolerant routing algorithms play an important role in Network-on Chips (NoCs) nowadays. Region based method and tree based method are two effective approaches. However, region based methods generate faulty blocks, sacrificing a lot of healthy nodes inside faulty blocks. Tree based methods try to reach full fault-coverage, but lead to worse latency. To achieve a better tradeoff, we propose a region-tree based routing algorithm. The proposed algorithm routes packets as XY based routing algorithm in healthy areas and tree based routing algorithm in faulty areas, combining the high efficiency of region based algorithms and high fault coverage of tree based algorithms. The proposed algorithm is proved as deadlock-free. Experimental results show that proposed algorithm improves utilization rate by 43% compared to current method without increasing latency.