Exploration of a Research Roadmap for Application Development and Execution on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-Based Systems

Abstract

FPGA-based reconfigurable computing (RC) technology has been widely used by the DoD community to exploit performance, power, area, cost, and versatility. Significant challenges, however, remain in application development tools and design methodologies. This study focuses on investigating key challenges and limitations of FPGA tools, and identifying and assessing potential solutions and research areas. The investigation included three major tasks: a) survey of use cases and the state of existing tools; b) characterization of limitations of existing flows, analysis of key technical challenges, and identification of potential solutions; and c) qualitative and quantitative analysis and evaluation of the solution space and projected impact. Based on the study, new concepts and methodologies based upon four phases of application development--formulation, design, translation, and execution (FDTE)--are expressed into 12 strategic research thrusts. The impact of the proposed solutions was shown to potentially revolutionize FPGA design productivity and execution efficiency.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA494473

Entities

People

  • Alan D. George
  • Esam El-araby
  • Greg Stitt
  • Herman Lam
  • Iván González
  • Melissa Smith
  • Nahid Alam
  • Proshanta Saha
  • Saumil Merchant
  • Tarek El-Ghazawi

Organizations

  • George Washington University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Algorithms
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Computing Devices
  • Debugging
  • Engineering
  • Field Programmable Gate Arrays
  • Graphics Processing Unit
  • High Performance Computing
  • Intellectual Property
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Prototypes
  • Software Development
  • Systems Engineering

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Engineering

Readers

  • Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Space