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Probabilistic Verification for Reliable Network-on-Chip System Design
Lecture Notes in Computer Science
  • Benjamin Lewis, Utah State University
  • Arnd Hartmanns, Universiteit Twente
  • Prabal Basu, Utah State University
  • Rajesh Jayashankara Shridevi, Utah State University
  • Koushik Chakraborty, Utah State University
  • Sanghamitra Roy, Utah State University
  • Zhen Zhang, Utah State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-25-2019
Funder

NSF

Abstract

The design of modern network-on-chip (NoC) systems faces reliability challenges due to process and environmental variations. Peak power supply noise (PSN) in the power delivery network of a NoC device plays a critical role in determining reliable operations: PSN typically leads to voltage droop, which can cause timing errors in the NoC router pipelines. Existing simulation-based approaches cannot provide rigorous, worst-case reliability guarantees on the probabilistic behaviors of PSN. To address this problem, this paper takes a significant step in formally analyzing PSN in modern NoCs. Specifically, we present a probabilistic model checking approach for the rigorous characterization of PSN for a generic central router of a large mesh-NoC system, under the Round Robin scheduling mechanism with a uniform random network traffic load. Defining features for PSN are extracted at the behavioral level to facilitate property formulation. Several abstract models have been derived for the central router’s concrete model based on the observations of its arbiter’s conflict resolution behavior. Probabilistic modeling and verification are performed using the Modest Toolset. Results show significant scalability of our abstract models, and reveal key PSN characteristics that are indicative of NoC design and optimization.

Citation Information
Lewis, B. et al. (2019). Probabilistic Verification for Reliable Network-on-Chip System Design. In: Larsen, K., Willemse, T. (eds) Formal Methods for Industrial Critical Systems. FMICS 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11687. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27008-7_7