SHAPES project
INFN Roma group in the SHAPES project
The INFN Roma group's contribution to the SHAPES project consist of a TLM-SystemC and a VHDL model of the DNP.
DNP stands for Distributed Network Processor. The main task of the DNP is to provide inter-tile communication services. A secondary service is to act as a DMA controller for intra-tile communications. The DNP offers its services to other masters in the tile, typically a RISC or a DSP processor.
The picture below shows the DNP in the RISC-DSP Tile (RDT).
The SHAPES architecture is a scalable architecture, based on tiles. The scalability is assured by the DNP which provide a set of inter tile communication port for on-chip and off-chip communications. The on-chip communications between tiles is guaranteed by the Spidergon NoC, while the off-chip links are based on a serial protocol to support 3D lattice architectures.
An example of SHAPES chip, is showed below:
The pictures show as the DNP is the communication engine in the shapes tile. It support the communication inside the tile via two masters ans one slave AHB AMBA ports, and outside the tile with a NoC port and six links for 3D connections. The DNP is designed to support another link for the collective. The collective link allow
The SHAPES tile in a 3D lattice:
The Distributed Network Processor
This section contains a brief description of the DNP and its role in the SHAPES tile
