Evolution in Architectures and Programming Methodologies of Coarse-grained Reconfigurable

ComputingBy: Zain-ul-Abdin and

Bertil Svensson

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 2

Outline

• Motivation• Scope• Architectural Characteristics• Computation Models• Coarse-grained Reconfigurable Archietctures• Discussion• Future Trends

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 3

Motivation• Emergence of architectures different from Von Neuman’s

paradigm of computing• Growing focus towards Reconfigurable computing based

on data-streaming:– Increased Performance– Run-time Reconfiguration– Power Efficiency

• Need for Models of Computations– Enhance the understanding of the developer to organize

computations– Utilizes the expilicit concurrency in the underlying HW

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 4

Scope

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 5

Architectural Characteristics

• Granularity– Fine-grain/Coarse-grain

• Reconfigurability– Reconfiguration Overheads: Latency, Speed

• Interconnection Networks– Characteristics: Network topology, Flow control,

Routing, QoS• Energy Efficiency• Scalability

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 6

Computation Models• Stream Processing Model

– Languages: StreamIt, StreamC/KernelC, TDF• CSP based Model

– Languages: Handel-C, Streams-C, Mobius• Spatial Computation Model

– Pegasus• Kahn Process Networks

– Compaan, Ambric structural object programming language

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 7

Coarse-grained Reconfigurable Architectures• Classification

– Hybrid architectures– Array of functional

units– Array of processors– Array of soft

processors

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 8

Coarse-grained Reconfigurable ArchitecturesCategories Hybrid

ArchitecturesArrays of FUs

Array of Processors

Example Arch.

MorphoSys, Zippy, Tartan, DAPDNA

MATRIX, PACT XPP, SiliconHive, Mathstar, NEC DRP

RAW, Picochip, Ambric

• Array of Soft Processors– Mitrionics Virtual Processor

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 9

Discussion

• Summary of features of MoC

Features MoC

Stream Processing

CSP KPN Spatial Comp.

Synchronism Synchronous Asynchronous Asynchronous Asynchronous

Determinism Deterministic Non-deterministic

Deterministic Deterministic

Buffering Bounded None Unbounded None

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 10

Discussion

• Relationship between MoC and CG Arch.

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 11

Discussion

• Trends in Relative complexity of CG Arch.

"Evolution in Arch. and Prog. Methodologies of Coarse-grained RC", Zain-ul-Abdin, Bertil Svensson 12

Future trends

• Architectural trends (GALS)• Computing Model trends

(Streaming/CSP/Process Networks)• Technology trends (i.e. Nanoscale

devices)