Constellation: An Open-Source SoC-Capable NoC Generator

In response to growing application diversity, System-on-Chip (SoC) architectures have become increasingly heterogeneous, with diverse cores and accelerators, as well as non-uniform memory systems. However, existing open-source design frameworks for SoCs and NoCs (Network-on-Chips) have been unable to facilitate design exploration of heterogeneous SoC architectures with irregular NoCs. We present Constellation, a new NoC RTL generator framework designed from the ground up to support integration in a heterogeneous SoC and evaluation of highly irregular NoC architectures. Constellation implements a highly decoupled specification system that allows an architect to specify an exponentially large design space of irregular virtual-channel wormhole-routed NoC architectures. Additionally, Constellation provides a diverse set of systems, regression tests, and evaluation tools to provide confidence in the correctness and performance of the generated hardware. Constellation is open-sourced and integrated into the Chipyard SoC design framework, allowing full-system exploration of heterogeneous SoC architectures with irregular memory fabrics.