On-Chip Networks: Theory and Synthesis
As architectural paradigms shift toward rack-scale compute and “hive” systems, the interconnect; the system’s transport backbone has emerged as the primary determinant of both performance and scalability. In these data-intensive environments, the design and orchestration of the On-Chip Network (NoC) are no longer peripheral concerns but central to the viability of the entire compute fabric. This page serves as a living archive of formalisms, lectures, and design iterations supporting Hermes, a platform dedicated to the automated synthesis of high-performance on-chip networks.
Toward Algebraic Network Synthesis
Modern System-on-Chip (SoC) complexity demands a departure from ad-hoc interconnect construction. Current design cycles are often bottlenecked by the manual translation of high-level architectural intent into hardware description languages. The research driving Hermes focuses on leveraging the type-safety and abstraction of Haskell alongside the hardware-semantic rigor of Bluespec SystemVerilog to bridge the gap between abstract analytical models and physical silicon.
The objective is to treat hardware description as a function of architectural specifications. By capturing “NoC specs” topology, flow control, and routing algorithms within a formal mathematical framework, Hermes enables a “correct-by-construction” synthesis path. This methodology allows architects to perform rapid, high-fidelity Design Space Exploration (DSE), iterating on complex network parameters without the overhead of manual RTL re-coding. By automating the synthesis of these specifications into optimized Verilog circuits, the Hermes library aims to significantly compress the Time-to-Market (TTM) and provide a robust foundation for the next generation of hyperscale systems.
Find the tool itself
The below steps will allow you to use the hermes noc-generator and develop upon it or just use it in your project.
$ git clone https://github.com/JoyenBenitto/Hermes.git
$ cd Hermes-noc-generator
$ cabal build
$ cabal test