Traffic Manager Power Reduction via Selective Buffer Dropping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic devices face high power consumption when managing network packets, particularly due to excessive write operations in buffers, which can lead to significant energy expenditure, especially during high data rate traffic or numerous traffic sessions.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of traffic managers that compare the total amount of data to be written across all buffers to threshold levels, allowing for the selective dropping of cells to manage power consumption, combined with traffic shapers that regulate packet processing rates using a token bucket mechanism to limit data flow and reduce switching operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traffic managers write all received packet data to buffers, then data transmission reliability is improved, but power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The traffic manager selectively writes only a subset of received packet data to buffers based on threshold comparison, rather than writing all data. This partial action approach reduces the number of write operations and associated power consumption while maintaining sufficient data transmission reliability through intelligent selection of which packets to buffer.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the parameter of data volume written to buffers by comparing total received data against threshold levels. When thresholds are exceeded, the system adjusts the amount of data written, thereby controlling power consumption while maintaining operational reliability through adaptive parameter modification.
2Reliability
If traffic managers store all packet data in buffers, then data transmission completeness is improved, but switching operations increase leading to higher power consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The traffic manager performs partial storage of packet data in buffers based on threshold evaluation, storing only necessary portions of data. This reduces the volume of data requiring switching operations and associated energy expenditure while maintaining transmission completeness through selective buffering of critical packets.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and stores only the essential packet data in buffers rather than all received data. By identifying and extracting only necessary packets based on threshold criteria, the system reduces switching operations and energy consumption while preserving transmission completeness for critical data.
3Productivity
If ingress arbiters schedule all received cells for forwarding, then data processing speed is improved, but power consumption increases due to excessive switching
Solution Approach 1:
The ingress arbiter schedules only a subset of received cells for forwarding based on token availability and threshold conditions, rather than all cells. This partial scheduling maintains adequate data processing speed for critical traffic while reducing unnecessary switching operations and associated power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The traffic shaper implements periodic token generation and consumption to control cell scheduling. By using periodic action with token buckets, the system maintains manageable data processing speed through regulated scheduling while significantly reducing power consumption by limiting switching operations to necessary periods only.
Data Source
AI summary
An ingress packet processor in a device corresponds to a group of ports and receives network packets from ports in its port group. A traffic manager in the device manages buffers storing packet data for transmission to egress packet processors. An ingress arbiter is associated with a port group and connects the port group to an ingress packet processor coupled to the ingress arbiter. The ingress arbiter determines a traffic rate at which the associated ingress packet processor transmits packets to the traffic manager. The ingress arbiter controls an associated traffic shaper to generate a number of tokens that are assigned to the port group. Upon receiving packet data from a port in the group, the ingress arbiter determines, using information from the traffic shaper, whether a token is available. Conditioned on determining that a token is available, the ingress arbiter forwards the packet data to the ingress packet processor.