一种基于与非锥簇架构FPGA输入交叉互连设计优化方法

该文针对与非锥(And-Inverter Cone, AIC)簇架构FPGA开发中面临的簇面积过大的瓶颈问题,对其输入交叉互连设计优化进行深入研究,在评估优化流程层次,首次创新性提出装箱网表统计法对AIC簇输入和反馈资源占用情况进行分析,为设计及优化输入交叉互连结构提供指导,以更高效获得优化参数。针对输入交叉互连模块,在结构参数设计层次,首次提出将引脚输入和输出反馈连通率分离独立设计,并通过大量的实验,获得最优连通率组合。在电路设计实现层次,有效利用AIC逻辑锥电路结构特点,首次提出双相输入交叉互连电路实现。相比于已有的AIC簇结构,通过该文提出的优化方法所得的AIC簇自身面积可减小21.21%,面积制约问题得到了明显改善。在实现MCNC和VTR应用电路集时,与Altera公司的FPGA芯片Stratix IV(LUT架构)相比,采用具有该文所设计的输入交叉互连结构的AIC架构FPGA,平均面积延时积分别减小了48.49%和26.29%;与传统AIC架构FPGA相比,平均面积延时积分别减小了28.48%和28.37%,显著提升了FPGA的整体性能。     

具有高资源利用率特征的改进型查找表电路结构与优化方法

该文着重研究了FPGA芯片中核心模块基本可编程逻辑单元(BLE)的电路结构与优化设计方法,针对传统4输入查找表(LUT)进行逻辑操作和算术运算时资源利用率低的问题,提出一种融合多路选择器的改进型LUT结构,该结构具有更高面积利用率;同时提出一种对映射后网表进行统计的评估优化方法,可以对综合映射后网表进行重新组合,通过预装箱产生优化后网表;最后,对所提结构进行了实验评估和验证。结果表明:与Intel公司Stratix系列FPGA相比,采用该文所提优化结构,在MCNC电路集和VTR电路集下,资源利用率平均分别提高了10.428% 和 10.433%,有效提升了FPGA的逻辑效能。     

可级联拆分查找表：增强型逻辑结构

提高FPGA芯片的性能和面积效率是FPGA结构研究的目标。结合现有的可拆分查找表和可级联查找表结构的优点,提出了可级联拆分查找表逻辑结构。通过在普通可拆分查找表结构中插入可配置选择器,实现了其中2个子查找表单元的可级联,大大减小了电路中2个子查找表之间的互连延迟。在MCNC测试电路集下,可级联拆分查找表在电路总面积相近的情况下,性能上平均提升12%。     

基于单驱动和多驱动通道形式组合的FPGA互连结构研究

单驱动实现和多驱动实现是FPGA中单向互连通道的两种实现形式。该文讨论了二者在版图面积、延时等方面的差异,以及它们各自对通道结构的限制。提出在互连结构中将两种实现形式进行组合。并给出一种有效的结构设计方法,通过两级优化得到了面积延时积最优情况下对应的互连线段长度组合方式以及互连实现形式组合方式。与其他结构相比,使用该文方法得到的50%长度为6的单驱动电路,25%长度为8的多驱动电路和25%长度为8的单驱动电路的组合结构,改进了57%～86%的面积延时积。     

一种基于半监督AdaBoost模型树的FPGA性能表征方法

提出了一种基于半监督自适应增强(Ada Boost)模型树的建模方法,用于现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)的性能表征。该方法以半监督学习方式,构建了FPGA性能关于FPGA架构参数的解析模型,同时采用Ada Boost算法提高FPGA性能模型的预测精确度。使用VTR(Verilog To Routing)电路集,基于该方法构建的性能模型在预测FPGA上实现的应用电路面积时,平均相对误差(MRE)为4.42%;预测延时的MRE为1.63%;预测面积延时积时,MRE为5.06%。与全监督模型树算法以及现有的半监督模型树算法相比较,该方法构建的FPGA实现面积模型的预测精确度分别提高了39%,26%。实验结果显示,该方法在确保较少的时间开销前提下,构建了具有高预测精确度的FPGA性能模型,提供了一种高效的FPGA性能表征方法。     

一种基于AND-LUT的混合FPGA结构

提出了一种混合FPGA新结构--新颖的AND-LUT阵列结构.其创新之处在于由可编程逻辑簇(Cluster)和相关的连接盒(CB)组成的可编程逻辑单元片(Tile)可以根据应用需要灵活地配置成PLA或LUT,前者较适合于高扇入逻辑,后者较适合于低扇入逻辑.因此,结合两者优点的新颖AND-LUT阵列结构在实现各种输入的用户逻辑时都能保持很好的逻辑利用率.MCNC电路测试结果进一步表明,同一逻辑电路在文中提出的混合FPGA新结构中实现与在基于LUT的对称FPGA结构中实现相比,面积平均可节省46%,因而大大提高了FPGA器件的逻辑利用率.     

一种基于AND-LUT的混合FPGA结构

提出了一种混合FPGA新结构--新颖的AND-LUT阵列结构.其创新之处在于由可编程逻辑簇(Cluster)和相关的连接盒(CB)组成的可编程逻辑单元片(Tile)可以根据应用需要灵活地配置成PLA或LUT,前者较适合于高扇入逻辑,后者较适合于低扇入逻辑.因此,结合两者优点的新颖AND-LUT阵列结构在实现各种输入的用户逻辑时都能保持很好的逻辑利用率.MCNC电路测试结果进一步表明,同一逻辑电路在文中提出的混合FPGA新结构中实现与在基于LUT的对称FPGA结构中实现相比,面积平均可节省46%,因而大大提高了FPGA器件的逻辑利用率.     

延迟优化的统一可编程互连电路设计和实现

本文设计了一种对可编程逻辑单元CLB和可编程输出单元IOB均具有统一结构的可编程互连电路。通过偏移互连线和回线技术,使得同种可编程互连线的负载分布均匀,保证了可编程逻辑器件FPGA芯片中信号传输的可预测性和规整性;同时,设计过程中对编程点和驱动器电路进行专门的优化设计,减少了5%延时。运用该互连电路到实例FPGA芯片--FDP芯片中,流片后实测数据表明：该可编程互连电路中各种互连线功能正确,可以正确地完成各种信号的互连,整个芯片的延迟统一而且可预测。     

基于对偶逻辑的混合极性 RM 电路极性转换和优化方法

针对混合极性RM（Reed-Muller）电路逻辑综合中的极性转换和极性优化问题,提出了基于对偶逻辑的极性转换和极性优化方法。从理论上证明了所提出方法的正确性,并用实验验证了其有效性和可行性。所提出方法有助于将较成熟的MPRM （Mixed-Polarity RM ）极性转换和极性优化方法应用于MPDRM （Mixed-Polarity Dual form of RM ）。对15个基于XOR的MCNC电路进行逻辑综合然后映射到FPGA （Field Programmable Gate Array ）的实验结果表明,从平均结果来看,与逻辑综合工具Espresso以及ABC的结果相比,混合极性RM电路能够获得面积和延时的优势,并且MPDRM电路极性优化结果能够得到最为优化的FPGA实现。     

一种改进型可配置逻辑块的结构设计

可配置逻辑块（CLB）是FPGA中最重要的模块,其主要由查找表、选择器、触发器等子模块组成,可以通过配置来实现组合逻辑和时序逻辑,其性能直接影响到整个FPGA的表现。为了提高CLB的利用率和性能,提出了一种改进型的CLB结构。基于VPR平台对修改后的CLB结构进行架构建模,选用不同类型的基准电路测试了CLB结构对延时和面积等性能的影响。实验结果表明,改进后的结构在关键路径延时平均增大8.86%的前提下,所用CLB数量节省了24.88%,总面积减小了12.95%。且该结构能够在VPR中被正确描述与解析,测试结果对FPGA的结构设计与分析具有参考价值。     

ATOMi: An Algorithm for Circuit Partitioning Into Multiple FPGAs Using Time-Multiplexed, Off-Chip, Multicasting Interconnection Architecture

Logic emulation is so far the fastest method to verify the system functionality in the gate level before chip fabrication. Field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based logic emulator with large gate capacity generally comprises a large number of FPGAs or special processors connected in mesh or crossbar topology. However, gate utilization of FPGAs and speed of emulation are limited by the number of signal pins among FPGAs and the interconnection architecture of the logic emulator. This paper first describes a new interconnection architecture called TOMi (Time-multiplexed, Off-chip, Multicasting interconnection) and proposes a circuit partitioning algorithm called ATOMi (Algorithm for TOMi) for multi-FPGA system incorporating four to eight FPGAs where FPGAs are interconnected through TOMi. ATOMi reduces the number of off-chip signal transfers to optimize the performance for multi-FPGA system implemented by TOMi. Experimental results using Partitioning93 benchmarks show that, by adopting the proposed TOMi interconnection architecture along with ATOMi, the pin count is reduced to 14.4%–88.6% while the critical path delay is reduced to 66.1%–90.1% compared to traditional architectures including mesh, crossbar, and VirtualWire architecture.     

面向AIC结构的FPGA映射工具

探索新的现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)逻辑单元结构一直是FPGA结构研究的重点方向,与非逻辑锥(AIC)作为一种新的逻辑结构成为FPGA新结构的希望。然而实现高效且灵活的映射工具同样是研究FPGA新结构中的重点环节。该文实现了一个面向AIC结构的FPGA映射工具,与当前映射工具相比,具有更高的灵活性,能够支持AIC结构参数的调节,辅助支持进行AIC单元结构的探索改进。同时,该文提出的AIC映射工具与原工具相比,面积指标提高了33%~36%。     

Path reuse-aware routing for non-volatile memory based FPGAs

Non-volatile memory-based FPGAs (NV-FPGAs) are expected to replace traditional SRAM-based FPGAs to achieve higher scalability and lower power consumption. Yet the slow write performance of NVMs not only challenges FPGA reconfiguration speed and overhead but also constrains the programming cycles of FPGAs. To efficiently configure switch boxes, the majority component of an FPGA, this paper presents a routing path reuse technique. The reconfiguration cost of routing resources is first modeled mathematically and then minimized through a reuse-aware routing algorithm, which is incorporated into the standard VTR CAD tool. Experiments on standard MCNC and Titan benchmarks show that the proposed scheme is able to achieve as much as 58% path reuse rate and reduce as much as 45% configuration cost for routing resources.     

The effect of LUT and cluster size on deep-submicron FPGA performance and density

In this paper, we revisit the field-programmable gate-array (FPGA) architectural issue of the effect of logic block functionality on FPGA performance and density. In particular, in the context of lookup table, cluster-based island-style FPGAs (Betz et al. 1997) we look at the effect of lookup table (LUT) size and cluster size (number of LUTs per cluster) on the speed and logic density of an FPGA. We use a fully timing-driven experimental flow (Betz et al. 1997), (Marquardt, 1999) in which a set of benchmark circuits are synthesized into different cluster-based (Betz and Rose, 1997, 1998) and (Marquardt, 1999) logic block architectures, which contain groups of LUTs and flip-flops. Across all architectures with LUT sizes in the range of 2 to 7 inputs, and cluster size from 1 to 10 LUTs, we have experimentally determined the relationship between the number of inputs required for a cluster as a function of the LUT size (K) and cluster size (N). Second, contrary to previous results, we have shown that clustering small LUTs (sizes 2 and 3) produces better area results than what was presented in the past. However, our results also show that the performance of FPGAs with these small LUT sizes is significantly worse (by almost a factor of 2) than larger LUTs. Hence, as measured by area-delay product, or by performance, these would be a bad choice. Also, we have discovered that LUT sizes of 5 and 6 produce much better area results than were previously believed. Finally, our results show that a LUT size of 4 to 6 and cluster size of between 3-10 provides the best area-delay product for an FPGA.     

Architecture level optimization of 3-dimensional tree-based FPGA

We describe a methodology to design and optimize Three-dimensional (3D) Tree-based FPGA by introducing a break-point at particular tree level interconnect to optimize the speed, area, and power consumption. The ability of the design flow to decide a horizontal or vertical network break-point based on design specifications is a defining feature of our design methodology. The vertical partitioning is organized in such a way to balance the placement of logic blocks and switch blocks into multiple tiers while the horizontal partitioning optimizes the interconnect delay by segregating the logic blocks and programmable interconnect resources into multiple tiers to build a 3D stacked Tree-based FPGA. We finally evaluate the effect of Look-Up-Table (LUT) size, cluster size, speed, area and power consumption of the proposed 3D Tree-based FPGA using our home grown experimental flow and show that the horizontal partitioned 3D stacked Tree-based FPGA with LUT and cluster sizes equal to 4 has the best area-delay product to design and manufacture 3D Tree-based FPGA.