Network-on-chip (NoC)
Beginner
A small road network on the chip, with intersections, that carries data between the parts in little packets.
Novice
An on-chip network of small routers joined by links. Blocks send data as packets that hop from router to router, much like a computer network. Common layouts are a ring, a 2D grid (mesh) and a grid whose edges wrap around (torus).
Expert
Chosen by average hop count, bisection bandwidth (the total bandwidth across a line that cuts the network in half), router port count and layout cost. Routing, flow control, virtual channels and priority schemes then decide latency under load and whether traffic can deadlock.