TSFPGA : A Time - Switched Field - Programmable Gate Array

Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are computational devices containing uncommitted logic and interconnect resources which users configure for the applications they wish to run. Because the potential applications for FPGAs are not known at the time that they are fabricated, manufacturers of FPGAs should ideally provide abundant amounts of both logic capacity and interconnect flexibility to suit the widest possible range of applications. Current FPGAs, however, are lacking in interconnect flexibility because they neglect the temporal dimension of flexibility and exploit only the spatial aspect. Unlike conventional FPGAs, the Time-Switched Field-Programmable Gate Array (TSFPGA) capitalizes on both the spatial and temporal aspects of flexibility by utilizing a time-switched interconnect architecture. The TSFPGA applies its time-switched interconnect to multiplex the physical switch and wire resources so that any particular switch or wire can replicate the functionality of n switches or wires over O(n) amount of time units. Under this scheme, time serves as an additional dimension for augmenting spatial interconnect resources because it allows the TSFPGA to emulate connectivity between logic blocks temporally instead of providing that connectivity physically. By reusing the limited number of physical switches and wires, the TSFPGA promises greater interconnect flexibility than that possible in existing FPGA architectures. Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Thomas F. Knight Title: Senior Research Scientist