1 unimap : unified framework for network-on-chip application mapping research

Network-on-Chip architectures have been recently pr oposed to address the limitations of bus-based interconnection networks. They focus on modularity, scalability and intrinsic support for heterogeneou s Systems-onChip. Network-on-Chip application mapping is an NPhard problem that deals with the topological mappin g of Intellectual Property cores onto network tiles. Thi s paper outlines the main contributions of an ongoi PhD research, which addresses this problem. At the Advanced Compu ter Architecture & Processing Systems (ACAPS) resea rch lab, we developed UniMap, a framework that evaluates and optimizes algorithms for Network-on-Chip applicati on mapping, through a unified approach. Using this too l, multiple application mapping algorithms can be t ested on the same network architecture. The framework is also in tended to be flexible so that different interconnec tion designs can be used when comparing the performance of different algorithms. We present here UniMap’s design and we show how it contributes to the Network-on-Chip application m apping research.