ADR-0003/0014: generalize "router mesh" to "NOC"

NOC topology is an implementation choice (mesh, ring, crossbar, etc.).
ADR-0017 covers the current 2D mesh choice; ADRs at the system-level
shouldn't bind to that specific implementation.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-05-14 23:23:46 -07:00
parent c9bd5387ac
commit 32b29a1e5c
2 changed files with 21 additions and 19 deletions
+7 -5
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@@ -35,11 +35,13 @@ We model the system hierarchy explicitly:
- A CUBE contains:
- HBM + memory controller (HBM_CTRL)
- NOC router mesh: 2D grid of explicit routers (from cube_mesh.yaml) with XY routing;
carries all intra-cube traffic including HBM data, inter-cube (UCIe),
command (M_CPU↔PE_CPU), and shared SRAM access.
HBM_CTRL is attached to PE routers (local HBM = 0 hop).
See ADR-0017 and ADR-0019 for full architecture.
- NOC (on-die fabric): carries all intra-cube traffic including HBM data,
inter-cube (UCIe), command (M_CPU↔PE_CPU), and shared SRAM access.
Must provide: full-BW PE↔local HBM path, PE↔SRAM connectivity,
PE↔UCIe connectivity, M_CPU↔PE command path.
NOC topology is an implementation choice (e.g., 2D mesh, ring, crossbar);
current implementation uses a 2D mesh with XY routing (see ADR-0017).
HBM_CTRL is attached to each PE's local NOC port (local HBM = minimal hop).
- Shared SRAM: cube-level shared memory accessible by all PEs via NOC
- management/control CPU (M_CPU) coordinating PE command distribution and completion aggregation
- multiple PEs
@@ -44,15 +44,15 @@ Each PE contains the following logical components.
**PE_DMA**
- Handles memory transfers between PE_TCM and external memory domains.
- PE_DMA connects to the NOC router mesh at the CUBE level (ADR-0019):
- All destinations (HBM, shared SRAM, inter-cube UCIe) are reached via the router mesh
- Local HBM access: PE_DMA → local router → hbm_ctrl (switching overhead only)
- Remote/shared: PE_DMA → local router → (mesh hops) → destination
- PE_DMA connects to the cube-level NOC (on-die fabric):
- All destinations (HBM, shared SRAM, inter-cube UCIe) are reached via the NOC
- Local HBM access: PE_DMA → NOC → hbm_ctrl (minimal hop)
- Remote/shared: PE_DMA → NOC → (fabric hops) → destination
- Supported directions include:
- HBM → PE_TCM (via router mesh)
- PE_TCM → HBM (via router mesh)
- PE_TCM → shared SRAM (via router mesh)
- PE_TCM → other memory domains (via router mesh, if supported by topology)
- HBM → PE_TCM (via NOC)
- PE_TCM → HBM (via NOC)
- PE_TCM → shared SRAM (via NOC)
- PE_TCM → other memory domains (via NOC, if supported by topology)
**PE_GEMM**
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ Compute operations use a TCM-centric dataflow model.
**Input path (HBM)**
```text
HBM → router mesh → PE_DMA (DMA_READ) → PE_TCM
HBM → NOC → PE_DMA (DMA_READ) → PE_TCM
```
**Input path (shared SRAM)**
@@ -269,14 +269,14 @@ Compute engines read input tensors from PE_TCM.
PE_TCM → GEMM / MATH
```
Weights for GEMM may optionally stream directly from HBM (via router mesh).
Weights for GEMM may optionally stream directly from HBM (via NOC).
**Output path (HBM)**
Compute results are written to PE_TCM, then DMA writes to HBM.
```text
PE_TCM → PE_DMA (DMA_WRITE) → router mesh → HBM
PE_TCM → PE_DMA (DMA_WRITE) → NOC → HBM
```
**Output path (shared SRAM)**
@@ -348,9 +348,9 @@ PE instances are derived from `cube.pe_layout`.
External connectivity such as:
- PE_DMA → router mesh → HBM (data path, ADR-0019)
- PE_DMA → router mesh → shared SRAM, inter-cube UCIe (non-HBM data path)
- router mesh → PE_CPU (command path from M_CPU)
- PE_DMA → NOC → HBM (data path)
- PE_DMA → NOC → shared SRAM, inter-cube UCIe (non-HBM data path)
- NOC → PE_CPU (command path from M_CPU)
is modeled at the CUBE level (see ADR-0003 D3).