Specifying Compiler Strategies for FPGA-based Systems

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2012

Authors

João M. P. Cardoso (Author) FEUP; Teixeira, J (Author) Other; José Carlos Alves (Author) FEUP; Nobre, R (Author) Other; Diniz, PC (Author) Other; Coutinho, JGF (Author) Other; Luk, W (Author) Other

Conference proceedings International

Title: 2012 IEEE 20TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON FIELD-PROGRAMMABLE CUSTOM COMPUTING MACHINES (FCCM)

Pages: 192-199

20th IEEE International Symposium on Field-Programmable Custom Computing Machines (FCCM)

Toronto, CANADA, APR 29-MAY 01, 2012

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 7 Citations

Scopus - 14 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-FAA

DOI: 10.1109/fccm.2012.41

Abstract (EN): The development of applications for high-performance Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based embedded systems is a long and error-prone process. Typically, developers need to be deeply involved in all the stages of the translation and optimization of an application described in a high-level programming language to a lower-level design description to ensure the solution meets the required functionality and performance. This paper describes the use of a novel aspect-oriented hardware/software design approach for FPGA-based embedded platforms. The design-flow uses LARA, a domain-specific aspect-oriented programming language designed to capture high-level specifications of compilation and mapping strategies, including sequences of data/computation transformations and optimizations. With LARA, developers are able to guide a design-flow to partition and map an application between hardware and software components. We illustrate the use of LARA on two complex real-life applications using high-level compilation and synthesis strategies for achieving complete hardware/software implementations with speedups of 2.5x and 6.8x over software-only implementations. By allowing developers to maintain a single application source code, this approach promotes developer productivity as well as code and performance portability.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8