MRI: Acquisition of A Wireless Nanonetworks Integration and Emulation System for Multi-Processor SoC Research and Education

项目建议：本项目为获取无线纳米网络集成与仿真系统，旨在建立超宽带射频集成电路（RFIC）设计流程，用于射频节点的开发和测试。为了解决千兆级多处理器片上系统（MPSoC）通信效率与无处不在应用的计算需求之间的差距，提出了一种基于CMOS超宽带（UWB）芯片内无线技术的新型片上通信系统——无线片上网络（WNoC）。该系统将支持下一代高性能低功耗MPSoC的自配置片上无线互连的开发和原型研究。将为射频节点的开发设定一个集成的UWB RFIC设计流程，为WNoC奠定基础。相应的射频节点测试和测量环境将与性能表征和评估的实施过程相关联。整个WNoC将在赛灵思FPGS仿真系统上进行演示，该系统能够准确评估性能、功率和面积成本，以及各种设计权衡。将开发特定于应用的WNoC原型，以解决与这种新设计范式相关的挑战，并评估WNoC技术的潜力。在即将到来的纳米级MPSoC范式中，用于高性能计算的片内互连网络领域可能会出现一些突破，有望展示RF/无线互连的可行性和适用性，并为互连和IC设计提供具有成本效益的可扩展解决方案。更广泛的影响：这项工作有助于加强普适计算的课程开发，提供有效的培训。该实验室已经为学生提供了动手的机会。与麦克奈尔学者和斯托克斯联盟（LS-LAMP）合作，将招募教师和学生。增强实验室能力应该有助于通过分析、模拟和试验台实验来巩固研究，支持可能激活与工业、政府实验室和其他用户的伙伴关系的协作和交互。

Project Proposed:This project, acquiring a wireless nanonetworks integration and emulation system, aims at establishing an ultra wideband Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) design flow for the development and testing of RF nodes. To bridge the gap between computation requirements of ubiquitous applications and communication efficiency faced by gigascale MultiProcessor Systems on Chips (MPSoC), a new on-chip communication system, Wireless Network-on-Chip (WNoC) is proposed using CMOS Ultra WideBand (UWB) intrachip wireless technology. The system will support research on developing and prototyping self-configurable, on-chip wireless interconnects for the next generation high-performance and low-power MPSoC. An integrated UWB RFIC design flow will be set for the development of RF nodes, laying the basis for WNoC. The corresponding RF node test and measurement environment will be linked to the implementation process for performance characterization and evaluation. The overall WNoC will be demonstrated on a Xilinx FPGS emulation system that enables accurate evaluation of performance, power and area cost, and various design tradeoffs. The application-specific WNoC prototypes will be developed to address the challenges associated with this new design paradigm and assess the potential of the WNoC technology. Some breakthroughs could be forthcoming in the area of intra-chip interconnect network for high performance computing in the upcoming nanoscale MPSoC paradigm, hopefully demonstrating the feasibility and applicability of RF/wireless interconnects, and providing cost effective extendable solutions to interconnect and IC designs.Broader Impacts: This work contributes to enhance curriculum development of ubiquitous computing, providing effective training. The lab already offers hands-on opportunities for students. Partnering with McNair Scholars and Stokes Alliance (LS-LAMP), teachers and students will be recruited. Augmenting lab capabilities should contribute in solidifying research via analysis, simulation, and testbed experiments, enabling collaboration and interaction that might activate partnerships with industry, government labs, and other users.