PSK Signalling on NoC Buses

A novel self-timed communication protocol is based upon phase-modulation of a reference signal. The reference and the data are sent on the same transmission lines and the data can be recovered observing the sequence of events on the same lines. The sender block consists of a reference generator and variable-delay elements, while the receiver includes a delay-locked loop for synchronization and a mutual exclusion element with additional logic (validity bit and FIFO) for data recovery. This protocol exhibits high robustness with respect to transient errors caused by narrow pulse interference, usually associated with crosstalk and radiation.