Architecture FPGA améliorée et flot de conception pour une reconfiguration matérielle en ligne efficace

The self-reconfiguration capabilities of modern FPGA architectures pave the way for dynamic applications able to adapt to transient events. The CAD flows of modern architectures are nowadays mature but limited by the constraints induced by the complexity of FPGA circuits. In this thesis, multiple contributions are developed to propose an FPGA architecture supporting the dynamic placement of hardware tasks. First, an intermediate representation of these tasks configuration data, independent from their final position, is presented. This representation allows to compress the task data up to 11x with regard to its conventional raw counterpart. An accompanying CAD flow, based on state-of-the-art tools, is proposed to generate relocatable tasks from a high-level description. Then, the online behavior of this mechanism is studied. Two algorithms allowing to decode and create in real-time the conventional bit-stream are described. In addition, an enhancement of the FPGA interconnection network is proposedto increase the placement flexibility of heterogeneous tasks, at the cost of a 10% increase in average of the critical path delay. Eventually, a configurable substitute to the configuration memory found in FPGAs is studied to ease their partial reconfiguration.Les capacités d'auto-reconfiguration des architectures FPGA modernes ouvrent la voie à des applications dynamiques capables d'adapter leur fonctionnement pour répondre à des évènements ponctuels. Les flots de reconfiguration des architectures commerciales sont aujourd'hui aboutis mais limités par des contraintes inhérentes à la complexité de ces circuits. Dans cette thèse, plusieurs contributions sont avancées afin de proposer une architecture FPGA reconfigurable permettant le placement dynamique de tâches matérielles. Dans un premier temps, une représentation intermédiaire des données de configuration de ces tâches, indépendante de leur positionnement final, est présentée. Cette représentation permet notamment d'atteindre des taux de compression allant jusqu'à 11x par rapport à la représentation brute d'une tâche. Un flot de conception basé sur des outils de l'état de l'art accompagne cette représentation et génère des tâches relogeables à partir d'une description haut-niveau. Ensuite, le comportement en ligne de ce mécanisme est étudié. Deux algorithmes permettant le décodage de ces tâches et la génération en temps-réel des données de configuration propres à l'architectures son décrits. Par ailleurs, une amélioration du réseau d'interconnexion d'une architecture FPGA est proposée pour accroître la flexibilité du placement de tâches hétérogènes, avec une augmentation de 10% en moyenne du délai du chemin critique. Enfin, une alternative programmable aux mémoires de configuration de ces circuits est étudiée pour faciliter leur reconfiguration partielle

Enhanced FPGA Architecture and CAD Flow for Efficient Runtime Hardware Reconfiguration

Les capacités d'auto-reconfiguration des architectures FPGA modernes ouvrent la voie à des applications dynamiques capables d'adapter leur fonctionnement pour répondre à des évènements ponctuels. Les flots de reconfiguration des architectures commerciales sont aujourd'hui aboutis mais limités par des contraintes inhérentes à la complexité de ces circuits. Dans cette thèse, plusieurs contributions sont avancées afin de proposer une architecture FPGA reconfigurable permettant le placement dynamique de tâches matérielles. Dans un premier temps, une représentation intermédiaire des données de configuration de ces tâches, indépendante de leur positionnement final, est présentée. Cette représentation permet notamment d'atteindre des taux de compression allant jusqu'à 11x par rapport à la représentation brute d'une tâche. Un flot de conception basé sur des outils de l'état de l'art accompagne cette représentation et génère des tâches relogeables à partir d'une description haut-niveau. Ensuite, le comportement en ligne de ce mécanisme est étudié. Deux algorithmes permettant le décodage de ces tâches et la génération en temps-réel des données de configuration propres à l'architectures son décrits. Par ailleurs, une amélioration du réseau d'interconnexion d'une architecture FPGA est proposée pour accroître la flexibilité du placement de tâches hétérogènes, avec une augmentation de 10% en moyenne du délai du chemin critique. Enfin, une alternative programmable aux mémoires de configuration de ces circuits est étudiée pour faciliter leur reconfiguration partielle.The self-reconfiguration capabilities of modern FPGA architectures pave the way for dynamic applications able to adapt to transient events. The CAD flows of modern architectures are nowadays mature but limited by the constraints induced by the complexity of FPGA circuits. In this thesis, multiple contributions are developed to propose an FPGA architecture supporting the dynamic placement of hardware tasks. First, an intermediate representation of these tasks configuration data, independent from their final position, is presented. This representation allows to compress the task data up to 11x with regard to its conventional raw counterpart. An accompanying CAD flow, based on state-of-the-art tools, is proposed to generate relocatable tasks from a high-level description. Then, the online behavior of this mechanism is studied. Two algorithms allowing to decode and create in real-time the conventional bit-stream are described. In addition, an enhancement of the FPGA interconnection network is proposedto increase the placement flexibility of heterogeneous tasks, at the cost of a 10% increase in average of the critical path delay. Eventually, a configurable substitute to the configuration memory found in FPGAs is studied to ease their partial reconfiguration

Enhanced FPGA Architecture and CAD Flow for Efficient Runtime Hardware Reconfiguration

Les capacités d'auto-reconfiguration des architectures FPGA modernes ouvrent la voie à des applications dynamiques capables d'adapter leur fonctionnement pour répondre à des évènements ponctuels. Les flots de reconfiguration des architectures commerciales sont aujourd'hui aboutis mais limités par des contraintes inhérentes à la complexité de ces circuits. Dans cette thèse, plusieurs contributions sont avancées afin de proposer une architecture FPGA reconfigurable permettant le placement dynamique de tâches matérielles. Dans un premier temps, une représentation intermédiaire des données de configuration de ces tâches, indépendante de leur positionnement final, est présentée. Cette représentation permet notamment d'atteindre des taux de compression allant jusqu'à 11x par rapport à la représentation brute d'une tâche. Un flot de conception basé sur des outils de l'état de l'art accompagne cette représentation et génère des tâches relogeables à partir d'une description haut-niveau. Ensuite, le comportement en ligne de ce mécanisme est étudié. Deux algorithmes permettant le décodage de ces tâches et la génération en temps-réel des données de configuration propres à l'architectures son décrits. Par ailleurs, une amélioration du réseau d'interconnexion d'une architecture FPGA est proposée pour accroître la flexibilité du placement de tâches hétérogènes, avec une augmentation de 10% en moyenne du délai du chemin critique. Enfin, une alternative programmable aux mémoires de configuration de ces circuits est étudiée pour faciliter leur reconfiguration partielle.The self-reconfiguration capabilities of modern FPGA architectures pave the way for dynamic applications able to adapt to transient events. The CAD flows of modern architectures are nowadays mature but limited by the constraints induced by the complexity of FPGA circuits. In this thesis, multiple contributions are developed to propose an FPGA architecture supporting the dynamic placement of hardware tasks. First, an intermediate representation of these tasks configuration data, independent from their final position, is presented. This representation allows to compress the task data up to 11x with regard to its conventional raw counterpart. An accompanying CAD flow, based on state-of-the-art tools, is proposed to generate relocatable tasks from a high-level description. Then, the online behavior of this mechanism is studied. Two algorithms allowing to decode and create in real-time the conventional bit-stream are described. In addition, an enhancement of the FPGA interconnection network is proposedto increase the placement flexibility of heterogeneous tasks, at the cost of a 10% increase in average of the critical path delay. Eventually, a configurable substitute to the configuration memory found in FPGAs is studied to ease their partial reconfiguration

FPGA Architecture Support for Heterogeneous, Relocatable Partial Bitstreams

International audienceThe use of partial dynamic reconfiguration in FPGA-based systems has grown in recent years as the spectrum of applications which use this feature has increased. For these systems, it is desirable to create a series of partial bitstreams which represent tasks which can be located in multiple regions in the FPGA fabric. While the transferal of homogeneous collections of lookup-table based logic blocks from region to region has been shown to be relatively straightforward, it is more difficult to transfer partial bitstreams which contain fixed-function re- sources, such as block RAMs and DSP blocks. In this paper we consider FPGA architecture enhancements which allow for the migration of partial bitstreams including fixed-function resources from region to region even if these resources are not located in the same position in each region. Our approach does not require significant, time-consuming place-and-route during the migration process. We quantify the cost of inserting additional routing resources into the FPGA architecture to allow for easy migration of heterogeneous, fixed-function resources. Our experiments show that this flexibility can be added for a relatively low overhead and performance penalty

Effects of I/O Routing through Column Interfaces in Embedded FPGA Fabrics

International audienceThe emergence of 2.5D and 3D packaging technologies enables the integration of FPGA dice into more complex systems. Both heterogeneous manycore designs, which include an FPGA layer, and interposer-based multi-FPGA systems support the inclusion of reconfigurable hardware in 3D-stacked integrated circuits. In these architectures, the communication between FPGA dice or between FPGA and fixed-function layers often takes place through dedicated communication interfaces spread over the FPGA logic fabric, as opposed to an I/O ring around the fabric. In this paper, we investigate the effect of organizing FPGA fabric I/O into coarse-grained interface blocks distributed throughout the FPGA fabric. Specifically, we consider the quality of results for the placement and routing phases of the FPGA physical design flow. We evaluate the routing of I/O signals of large applications through dedicated interface blocks at various granularities in the logic fabric, and study its implications on the critical path delay of routed designs. We show that the impact of such I/O routing is limited and can improve chip routability and circuit delay in many cases

FPGA Architecture Enhancements to Support Heterogeneous Partially Reconfigurable Regions

International audiencePartial dynamic reconfiguration has become an important feature of FPGA-based systems as the number of applications which use this capability has increased. For systems using multiple partial bitstreams, the complexity of the target reconfigurable region, which often include heterogeneous blocks such as block RAMs and DSP blocks, makes it difficult to generate a unique bitstream which can be loaded into multiple locations in an FPGA. Although the migration of homogeneous lookup-table based logic blocks across the logic fabric has been shown to be relatively straightforward for older FPGAs, the variety and organization of heterogeneous blocks in modern FPGAs now render this operation more complex. In many applications, it is desirable to place and route a partial design once, store it in memory, and then freely load it into the reconfigurable fabric with as few constraints as possible. This work addresses the need to relocate partial designs which include heterogeneous resources

An FPGA Configuration Stream Architecture Supporting Seamless Hardware Accelerator Migration

International audienceMost of the available commercial Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) use an addressable memory organized around an array of N-bit words of Static RAM (SRAM) cells. Such configuration memory is traditionally programmed by writing, to each word, the corresponding bit-stream data at runtime. In the growing domain of Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration, this leads to long reconfiguration time of dynamic regions. We propose a novel approach to task relocation in an FPGA-based reconfigurable fabric, allowing for offline design, routing and unfinalized placement of hardware IPs and dynamic placement of the corresponding bit-streams at runtime

Design Flow and Run-Time Management for Compressed FPGA Configurations

International audienceThe aim of partially and dynamically reconfigurable hardware is to provide an increased flexibility through the load of multiple applications on the same reconfigurable fabric at the same time. However, a configuration bit-stream loaded at runtime should be created offline for each task of the application. Moreover, modern applications use a lot of specialized hardware blocks to perform complex operations, which tends to cancel the "single bit-stream for a single application" paradigm, as the logic content for different locations of the reconfigurable fabric may be different. In this paper we propose a design flow for generating compressed configuration bit-streams abstracted from their final position on the logic fabric. Those configurations will then be decoded and finalized in real-time and at run-time by a dedicated reconfiguration controller to be placed at a given physical location. Our experiments show that densely routed applications gain the most with a compression factor of more than 2× using the finest cluster size, but coarser coding can be implemented to achieve a compression factor up to 10×

Method and Device for Programming a FPGA

The invention relates to a method of programming a programmable logic device of the FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) family, to a device for carrying out such a method and to a semiconductor chip integrating such a device and a FPGA. The invention applies in particular to the partial reconfiguration, and even more particularly to dynamically reconfiguration, of FPGAs