HW/SW codesign techniques for dynamically reconfigurable architectures

Hardware/software (HW/SW) codesign and reconfigurable computing are commonly used methodologies for digital-systems design. However, no previous work has been carried out in order to define a HW/SW codesign methodology with dynamic scheduling for run-time reconfigurable architectures. In addition, all previous approaches to reconfigurable computing multicontext scheduling are based on static-scheduling techniques. In this paper, we present three main contributions: 1) a novel HW/SW codesign methodology with dynamic scheduling for discrete event systems using dynamically reconfigurable architectures; 2) a new dynamic approach to reconfigurable computing multicontext scheduling; and 3) a HW/SW partitioning algorithm for dynamically reconfigurable architectures. We have developed a whole codesign framework, where we have applied our methodology and algorithms to the case study of software acceleration. An exhaustive study has been carried out, and the obtained results demonstrate the benefits of our approach.     

可重构分组密码指令集处理器自动映射方法研究

计算资源与寄存器资源分配是可重构处理器自动并行映射的重要问题,该文针对可重构分组密码指令集处理器的资源分配问题,建立算子调度参数模型和处理器资源参数模型,研究了分组密码并行调度与资源消耗之间的约束关系;在此基础上提出基于贪婪思维、列表调度和线性扫描的自动映射算法,实现了分组密码在可重构分组密码指令集处理器上的自动映射。通过可用资源变化实验验证算法并行映射的有效性,并对AES-128算法的映射效果做了横向对比验证算法的先进性,所提自动映射算法对分组密码在可重构处理中的并行计算研究有一定的指导意义。     

一种可重构阵列结构及其任务调度算法

提出了一种可以利用计算时间覆盖配置时间和数据传输时间的可重构阵列结构,并且针对该可重构阵列结构提出了一种表调度算法进行任务调度.在SOCDesigner平台上进行了软硬件协同仿真,对于IDCT,FFT,4×4矩阵乘法新可重构阵列相比原来的可重构阵列有平均约10%的速度提升.     

面向DSP应用的可重构计算

DSP应用的特点是计算密集并适合并行处理,传统的可编程处理器与ASIC在性能和灵活性上各有优劣.因此出现了一种新的计算模式-可重构计算.由于它能将效率和灵活性很好地结合在一起,故正得到广泛的关注和研究.本文在介绍可重构计算的概念和分类的基础上,着重讨论了一些主流的可重构计算系统,分析了各类系统应用于DSP的特点,对可重构计算在计算模型,编译器,映射技术以及开发环境等方面的现状和趋势进行了探讨,并给出了自己的思考.     

A framework for reconfigurable computing: task scheduling andcontext management

Dynamically reconfigurable architectures are emerging as a viable design alternative to implement a wide range of computationally intensive applications. At the same time, an urgent necessity has arisen for support tool development to automate the design process and achieve optimal exploitation of the architectural features of the system. Task scheduling and context (configuration) management become very critical issues in achieving the high performance that digital signal processing (DSP) and multimedia applications demand. This article proposes a strategy to automate the design process which considers all possible optimizations that can be carried out at compilation time, regarding context and data transfers. This strategy is general in nature and could be applied to different reconfigurable systems. We also discuss the key aspects of the scheduling problem in a reconfigurable architecture such as MorphoSys. In particular, we focus on a task scheduling methodology for DSP and multimedia applications, as well as the context management and scheduling optimizations     

Hardware Supported Task Scheduling on Dynamically Reconfigurable SoC Architectures

Dynamically reconfigurable system-on-a-chip (RSoC) technology features embedded microprocessors that are dispersed on the same die with significant amounts of programmable logic fabric. In this paper, we present a strategy to solve the recently emerging problem of how to utilize the flexible but still limited RSoC resources in an effective manner for a multi-task application. The major contribution of this paper is the development of a dynamic task scheduling algorithm that can be implemented in fixed or reconfigurable hardware that will perform the online scheduling of task systems onto the RSoC type architecture. The results from extensive simulations demonstrate the benefits of the proposed dynamic scheduling approach as compared with that of other static scheduling techniques taken from the technical literature.      

可重构计算及可重构编译技术研究

可重构计算是未来高性能计算的发展趋势,它兼具了通用计算的灵活性和专用计算的高效性,充分利用系统资源的同时,又能发挥应用程序的效率。可重构编译是推广可重构计算的关键技术,可重构编译系统能够为传统的软件编程人员提供一个体系结构透明的开发平台,并让用户真正灵活利用可重构计算平台。     

Architecture,challenges and applications of dynamic reconfigurable computing

As a computing paradigm that combines temporal and spatial computations,dynamic reconfigurable computing provides superiorities of flexibility,energy efficiency and area efficiency,attracting interest from both academia and industry.However,dynamic reconfigurable computing is not yet mature because of several unsolved problems.This work introduces the concept,architecture,and compilation techniques of dynamic reconfigurable computing.It also discusses the existing major challenges and points out its potential applications.     

异步可重构结构设计

介绍一种异步可重构结构，研究了异步可重构单元的设计。通过提前产生求值完成信号，使用DSDCVS逻辑实现可重构单元的运算电路，改进了异步可重构单元的控制电路。用三输入的C元件实现异步可重构单元的控制电路。仿真结果表明，异步可重构结构具有低功耗、高性能的优点，适合作为IP集成到系统芯片上，组成低功耗、高性能的可重构计算平台。     

Configuration relocation and defragmentation for run-time reconfigurable computing

Due to its potential to greatly accelerate a wide variety of applications, reconfigurable computing has become a subject of a great deal of research. By mapping the compute-intensive sections of an application to reconfigurable hardware, custom computing systems exhibit significant speedups over traditional microprocessors. However, this potential acceleration is limited by the requirement that the speedups provided must outweigh the considerable cost of reconfiguration. The ability to relocate and defragment configurations on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) can dramatically decrease the overall reconfiguration overhead incurred by the use of the reconfigurable hardware. We therefore present hardware solutions to provide relocation and defragmentation support with a negligible area increase over a generic partially reconfigurable FPGA, as well as software algorithms for controlling this hardware. This results in factors of 8 to 12 improvement in the configuration overheads displayed by traditional serially programmed FPGAs.     

Run-time management of systems with partially reconfigurable FPGAs

Partial reconfiguration (PR) of FPGAs can be used to dynamically extend and adapt the functionality of computing systems by swapping in and out HW tasks. To coordinate the on-demand task execution, we propose and implement a Run-Time System Manager (RTSM) for scheduling software (SW) tasks on available processor(s) and hardware (HW) tasks on any number of reconfigurable regions (RRs) of a partially reconfigurable FPGA. Fed with the initial partitioning of the application into tasks, the corresponding task graph, and the available task mappings, the RTSM controls system operation considering the status of each task and region (e.g. busy, idle, scheduled for reconfiguration/execution, etc). Our RTSM supports task reuse and configuration prefetching to minimize reconfigurations, task movement among regions to efficiently manage the FPGA area, and region reservation for future reconfiguration and execution. We validate the correctness and portability of our RTSM executing an image processing application on two Xilinx-based platforms: ZedBoard and XUPV5. We also perform a more extensive evaluation of its features using a simulation framework, and find that – despite the technology limitations – our approach can give promising results in terms of scheduling quality. Since our RTSM supports also the scheduling of parallel SW tasks, we use it to manage the execution of the entire parallel Edge Detection application on a desktop; we compare the application execution time with that using the OpenMP framework and find that with our RTSM execution is 2.4 times faster than the unoptimized OpenMP version. When processor affinity optimization is enabled for OpenMP, our RTMS and the OpenMP are on par, indicating that the scheduling efficiency of our RTSM is competitive to this state-of-the-art scheduler, while supporting in addition the management of HW tasks.     

Reconfigurable computing systems

Reconfigurable computing is emerging as the new paradigm for satisfying the simultaneous demand for application performance and flexibility. The ability to customize the architecture to match the computation and the data flow of the application has demonstrated significant performance benefits compared to general purpose architectures. Computer vision applications are one class of applications that have significant heterogeneity in their computation and communication structures. At the low level, vision algorithms have regular repetitive computations operating on large sets of image data with predictable data dependencies. At the higher level, the computations have irregular dependencies. Computer vision application characteristics have significant overlap with the advantages of reconfigurable architectures. The main focus of the paper is on outlining the methodologies required to realize the potential of reconfigurable architectures for vision applications. After giving a broad introduction to reconfigurable computing, the advantages of utilizing reconfigurable architectures for vision applications are outlined and illustrated using example computations. The paper discusses the development of fundamental configurable computing models that abstract the underlying hardware for high-level application mapping. The Hybrid System Architecture Model and algorithms utilizing the model are illustrated to demonstrate a formal framework. The paper also outlines ongoing research and provides a comprehensive list of references for further reading.     

空间太阳望远镜星载数据处理系统中的 动态可重构协处理器研究

本文提出了一种为空间太阳望远镜星载数据处理系统而设计的动态可重构协处理器方案,该方案利用4bits粒度可重构阵列将传统的基于指令流的运算方式变为基于数据流与配置流的运算方式,并通过指令流水实现了动态可重构单元与主处理器的协同工作.文章最后还给出了该方案在Xilinx XC2V3000上的实现及该实现用于乘法和1024点复数快速傅立叶变换时的性能.     

基于杀伤链感知的动态可重构作战体系结构

本文根据马赛克战条件下分布式作战的特点，提出一种基于杀伤链感知的动态可重构作战体系结构理论和方法，分析了动态可重构计算理论适用性，杀伤链算子粒度，马赛克块与杀伤链类等问题，采用范畴论、集合论、超图和可重构计算理论等方法，描述了杀伤链感知算法模型和算子匹配体系结构映射变换算法模型等，最后通过实例验证了算法模型的适用性和可行性。     

DReAC:一种新型动态可重构协处理器

本文提出了一种应用于数据并行和高密度计算任务的新型动态可重构协处理器——DReAC.DReAC可以独立地以并行或流水工作模式重构协处理器内部数据路径,完成主处理器分配的任务.DReAC由全局控制器、计算阵列和阵列数据缓冲区三部分组成.文中简要介绍了DReAC系统模型,并使用该模型模拟了部份典型算法在DReAC中的实现.仿真结果表明,在典型的多媒体和信号处理应用中,DReAC能够达到通用处理器的10倍以上的速度,甚至在某些应用中远优于其他可重构处理器的性能.     

Temporal Partitioning Data Flow Graphs for Dynamically Reconfigurable Computing

FPGA-based configurable computing machines are evolving rapidly in large signal processing applications due to flexibility and high performance. In this paper, given a reconfigurable processing unit (RPU) with a logic capacity of A_RPU and a computational task represented by a data flow graph G = (V, E, W), we propose a network flow-based multiway task partitioning algorithm to minimize communication costs for temporal partitioning. The proposed algorithm obtains an optimal solution with minimum interconnection under area constraints. The optimal solution is a cut set. In our approach, two techniques are applied. In the initial partition, any feasible min-cut is produced by the proposed network flow-based algorithm, so a set of feasible min-cuts is obtained. From the feasible solutions, the scheduling technique selects an optimal global solution.     

Embedding of Dedicated High-Performance ASICs into Reconfigurable Systems Providing Additional Multimedia Functionality

The computational power required in many multimedia applications is well beyond the capabilities of today's multimedia systems. Therefore, the embedding of additional high-performance accelerator multimedia components into these systems is most decisive. This paper presents the embedding of multimedia components into computer systems using reconfigurable coprocessor boards. The goal of those reconfigurable platforms which can be adapted to several applications and which include programmable digital signal processors, control and memory devices as well as dedicated multimedia ASICs is worked out. On the way to such a platform four ASICs for image and text processing are presented. The embedding of these components into a computing system using a CardBus-based coprocessor board is shown. Such a reconfigurable coprocessor board is an important intermediate stage on the way to future hybrid reconfigurable systems on chip.     

High-speed 2-D convolution with a custom computing machine

Custom computing machines, a class of computational platforms consisting of reconfigurable functional units with reconfigurable interconnection networks, provide a middle-ground between special-purpose hardware, which provide high execution speed, and general-purpose computers, which offer flexibility. The Splash-2 system, one such custom computing machine, is an experimental platform for complex computations requiring the high speed of special-purpose hardware. The reconfigurability and modularity of Splash-2, along with automated synthesis tools, allow for rapid, staged development of applications. This paper demonstrates the applicability of Splash-2 to the image-processing area and gives an introduction to the programming environment used in developing applications. An example image-processing application based upon two-dimensional convolution is described and the operating procedures of custom computing machines are presented. Also presented are the details of directly implementing two-dimensional convolution in a straight-forward, systolic fashion in reconfigurable hardware.This research has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant MIP-9308390.     

Improving Reconfigurable Systems Reliability by Combining Periodical Test and Redundancy Techniques: A Case Study

This paper revises and introduces to the field of reconfigurable computer systems, some traditional techniques used in the fields of fault-tolerance and testing of digital circuits. The target area is that of on-board spacecraft electronics, as this class of application is a good candidate for the use of reconfigurable computing technology. Fault tolerant strategies are used in order for the system to adapt itself to the severe conditions found in space. In addition, the paper describes some problems and possible solutions for the use of reconfigurable components, based on programmable logic, in space applications.     

基于动态可重构的FFT处理器的设计与实现

提出了一种基于局部动态可重构(DPR)的新型可重构FFT处理器.相比传统的FFT设计,该设计方法在重构时间上得到了很大改进,同时,处理器能够动态地添加或移除重构单元.采用新颖的FFT控制算法,使得可重构部分面积很小.该处理器结构在Xilinx Viirtex2p系列FPGA上进行了综合及后仿真.较之Xilinx IPcore,其运算效率明显提高,而且还实现了IP核所不具备的动态可重构性.