Networks-on-chip Again on the Rise: from Emerging Applications to Emerging Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

Twenty years after the advent of interconnection networks to tackle the on-chip communication bottleneck, integrated computing platforms are again interconnect-dominated. On the one hand, the future of computing beyond Moore’s law and Dennard scaling is moving towards Systems-in-Package (SiP) based computing platforms that leverage advanced integration technologies such as 2.5D or 3D stacking. On the other hand, the advent and consolidation of data-intensive applications from artificial intelligence and big data analytics is putting unprecedented pressure on interconnection fabrics at each layer of the compute hierarchy, such as networks-on-chip (NoCs) and networks-in-package (NiPs).

This Special Issue seeks contributions on the latest advancements on chip- and package-scale interconnection systems, architectures, and/or circuits, capable of addressing the communication bottleneck raised by emerging data-intensive applications. The interest is in interconnect solutions for big data architectures across the computing continuum (from Edge computing to HPC) pursuing synergistic goals such as effective system integration (e.g., architectures for 2.5D or 3D-stacking) or architecture specialization (e.g., deep learning accelerators), and in any case striving to push performance boundaries under constant power budgets (e.g., approximate communication). At the same time, we welcome contributions on emerging technologies for on-chip and on-package networking (e.g., silicon nanophotonic networks, wireless NoCs, RF interconnects) with a focus ranging from disruptive devices to novel system concepts through architecture design methods. At the intersection of the above research directions, topics of interest include interconnect solutions for unconventional computing paradigms, such as  in-memory computing, neuromorphic computing or reconfigurable computing.

Prof. Dr. Davide Bertozzi
Prof. Dr. José L. Abellán
Prof. Dr. Mahdi Nikdast
Guest Editors

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