An Asynchronous Soft Macro for Ultra-Low Power Communication in Neuromorphic Computing

Asynchronous networks-on-chip (NoCs) play a fundamental role to materialize energy efficiency and scalability of spiking neural network-based neuromorphic systems. An unmistakable trend in this field consists of using bundled-data encoding for NoC design, showing promise in overall cost metrics while incorporating moderate timing constraints. To date, no framework exists for cost-effective and flexible NoC design with this approach. This paper aims at bridging this gap, by making bundled-data NoCs available to neuromorphic system designers through a highly-configurable and technology-independent soft macro. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to prove synchronous-equivalent design flexibility for an asynchronous NoC.