Protecting an Asynchronous NoC against Transient Channel Faults

Considering the increasing rates of transient faults predicted for future technology nodes, we investigate options for protecting the communication channels within an NoC from those. Our target is an asynchronous NoC, as its data-driven activity emanates from a more energy aware communication concept. We compare different redundancy schemes with the aim of providing a reliable communication service where error detection and correction is transparent to the higher system levels, and we also propose a new scheme. Our comparison is supported by results from simulation and synthesis. While all solutions are designed to withstand at least one transient fault, they largely differ in their area and delay penalty as well as potential extra coverage that some of them offer.