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URN: urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-7410
URL: http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2006/741/
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Maskell, Douglas ; Oliver, Timothy F.

Pre-Routed FPGA Cores for Rapid System Construction in a Dynamic Reconfigurable System

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Abstract

This paper presents a method of constructing pre-routed FPGA cores. This lays the foundations for a rapid system construction framework. There are two major challenges that need to be considered by this framework. The first is how to manage the wires crossing a core’s borders. The second is how to maintain an acceptable level of flexibility for system construction with only a minimum of overhead. Typical FPGA based systems are built up from cores developed by multiple third parties. Each compilation step that a developer performs before delivery adds value in terms of a cores performance, predictability and readiness for purpose. The perceived advantages of full independent core development are weighed against the loss in placement flexibility and elimination of the opportunities to optimise a system across cores. Few existing methodologies allow the independent compilation of FPGA cores through every step of the design flow. The wire detail of modern FPGA architectures is captured in a model that is used to analyse how the interconnect architecture effects the shape of pre-routed cores and the wire bandwidth available to interfaces. We have adapted academic placement and routing algorithms to our architectural model. The design flow has been modified to include a wire policy and interface constraints framework that tightly constrains the use of the wires that cross a core’s boundaries. Using this tool set we investigate the effect of pre-routing on overall system optimality. Compiling a set of example systems using the pre-routed approach shows only a 2% increase in total wire use over the pre-placed approach. Place and route times are vastly reduced for systems composed of regular modules. Being able to break a system into independent cores reduces the placement and routing time even for non-regular systems, and will open opportunities for its possible use in resource constrained embedded systems.

BibTeX - Entry

@InProceedings{maskell_et_al:DSP:2006:741,
  author =	{Douglas Maskell and Timothy F. Oliver},
  title =	{Pre-Routed FPGA Cores for Rapid System Construction in a Dynamic Reconfigurable System},
  booktitle =	{Dynamically Reconfigurable Architectures},
  year =	{2006},
  editor =	{Peter M. Athanas and J{\"u}rgen Becker and Gordon Brebner and J{\"u}rgen Teich},
  number =	{06141},
  series =	{Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings},
  ISSN =	{1862-4405},
  publisher =	{Internationales Begegnungs- und Forschungszentrum f{\"u}r Informatik (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2006/741},
  annote =	{Keywords: Dynamic Reconfiguration, Rapid Construction, FPGA Routing matrix}
}

Keywords: Dynamic Reconfiguration, Rapid Construction, FPGA Routing matrix
Seminar: 06141 - Dynamically Reconfigurable Architectures
Issue Date: 2006
Date of publication: 09.10.2006

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