Title: A design methodology for mobile and embedded applications on FPGA-based dynamic reconfigurable hardware

Authors: Darshika G. Perera; Kin Fun Li

Addresses: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO-80918, USA ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada

Abstract: With the proliferation of mobile/embedded devices, multiple running applications are becoming a necessity on these devices. Thus, state-of-the-art techniques are needed to support complex applications running on mobile systems. We envision in the near future, many mobile devices will be implemented/delivered on FPGA-based reconfigurable chips. Previous analysis illustrated that FPGA-based dynamic-reconfigurable-hardware is currently the best option to deliver embedded applications that have stringent requirements. However, computation models and application characteristics play significant roles in determining whether this hardware is indeed a good match for specific embedded applications. Furthermore, selecting a specific dynamic reconfiguration method (out of many) and designing the corresponding hardware architectures for an application are important and challenging tasks. This paper proposes a design methodology for FPGA-based dynamic-reconfigurable-hardware that provides guidelines in mapping application's computation models and characteristics to the most suitable reconfiguration methods. Pipelined and functional-parallel models are used as case studies to illustrate the design methodology.

Keywords: design methodology; mobile applications; embedded applications; FPGA-based dynamic reconfigurable hardware; FPGAs; mobile devices; embedded systems; dynamic reconfiguration; mapping pipelined computation model to FPGAs; mapping functional parallel computation model to FPGAs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJES.2019.102416

International Journal of Embedded Systems, 2019 Vol.11 No.5, pp.661 - 677

Received: 09 Apr 2017
Accepted: 23 Aug 2017
Published online: 24 Sep 2019 *

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