Abstract: A network-on-chip (NoC) provides packet-based communication between a plurality of initiator computing elements and a plurality of target computing elements. The NoC includes a plurality of observer processors upstream of and corresponding to the target computing elements. Each observer processor is configured to perform packet inspection and generate information in real-time about traffic load on its corresponding target computing element. An aggregator processor is configured to process the traffic load information from the observer processors to identify those target computing elements that are most heavily contended.