Effective Reconfigurable Design: The FASTER Approach

While fine-grain, reconfigurable devices have been available for years, they are mostly used in a fixed functionality, “asic-replacement” manner. To exploit opportunities for flexible and adaptable run-time exploitation of fine grain reconfigurable resources (as implemented currently in dynamic, partial reconfiguration), better tool support is needed. The FASTER project aims to provide a methodology and a tool-chain that will enable designers to efficiently implement a reconfigurable system on a platform combining software and reconfigurable resources. Starting from a high-level application description and a target platform, our tools analyse the application, evaluate reconfiguration options, and implement the designer choices on underlying vendor tools. In addition, FASTER addresses micro-reconfiguration, verification, and the run-time management of system resources. We use industrial applications to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework and identify new opportunities for reconfigurable technologies.