Rapid prototyping of Networks-on-Chip on multi-FPGA platforms

Experimental approaches used for architecture exploration and validation are often based on configurable logic device such as FPGA. NoC architectures require multi-FPGA platforms as the resources of a single FPGA are not big enough. Partitionning a NoC on multi-FPGA requires special techniques for allocating communication channels, physical links and suitable resource allocation scheme. We present a scalable emulation platform and its associated design flow based on a multi FPGA approach that allows quick exploration, evaluation and comparison of NoC solutions. The efficiency of our approach is illustrated through the deployment of the Hermes NoC and its exploration on several FPGA platforms.