Hardware Accelerators for Regular Expression Matching and Approximate String Matching

Abstract

This paper introduces hardware accelerators for regular expression matching and approximate string matching. The hardware for regular expression matching accepts a subclass of regular expressions, and achieves a high throughput string matching for a wide range of patterns. In addition, since the hardware is pattern-independent, we can update patterns immediately without reconfiguring the hardware. Therefore, it is useful for applications that require quick pattern updating, such as network intrusion detection. The hardware for approximate string matching calculates the edit distance as a degree of similarity between two strings at high speed. Therefore, it accelerates processing for text retrieval in database, analysis of DNA, protein sequences in bioinformatics, and so on.APSIPA ASC 2009: Asia-Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association, 2009 Annual Summit and Conference. 4-7 October 2009. Sapporo, Japan. Panel session: Panel Discussion 3. Hardware Software Co-research for Efficient Information Processing (7 October 2009)