A hybrid memory organization to enhance task migration and dynamic task allocation in NoC-based MPSoCs

Abstract

Regarding MPSoCs, dynamic task allocation and task migration are still open research areas and, for both of them, there is no clear memory organization winner. While bus-connected systems commonly use a shared memory paradigm, NoC-based ones easily allow the exploration of distributed memory alternatives. This paper proposes a hybrid memory organization for NoC-based systems as the way to minimize the energy spent during the code transfer when task migration or dynamic task allocation needs to be performed. In our hybrid approach, the code can be transferred from the node where the task was originally running or from a memory positioned at the center of the system. The choice between the two options is done at runtime in a very intuitive way, based on the distance between the nodes involved on the transfer. Results are very encouraging and indicate that the proposed hybrid organization reduces the code transfer energy by 24% and 10% on average, as compared to global- and distributed-only memory organizations, respectively.