Hybrid Memory Design for High-Throughput and Low-Power Table Lookup in Internet Routers

Table lookup is a major process to decide the packet processing throughput and power efficiency of routers. To realize high-throughput and low-power table lookup, recent routers have employed several table lookup approaches, such as TCAM (Ternary Content Addressable Memory) based approach and DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) based approach, depending on the purpose. However, it is difficult to realize both ultrahigh throughput and significant low power due to the trade-off between them. To satisfy both of the demands, this study proposes a hybrid memory design, which combines TCAM, DRAM, PPC (Packet Processing Cache), CMH (Cache Miss Handler), and IP Cache, to enable a high-throughput and low-power table lookup. The simulation results using an in-house cycle-accurate simulator showed that the proposed memory design achieved nearly 1 Tbps throughput with similar power of the DRAM-based approach. When compared to the approach proposed in a recent study, the proposed memory design can realize 1.95x higher throughput with 11% power consumption.

@article{Yamaki2020,
  title     = {Hybrid Memory Design for High-Throughput and Low-Power Table Lookup in Internet Routers},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {11},
  number    = {6},
  year      = {2020},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  author    = {Hayato Yamaki},
  doi       = {10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0110608},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0110608}
}