Cross-architectural design space exploration tool for reconfigurable processors

—Processors that deploy fine-grained reconfigurable fabrics to implement application-specific accelerators ondemand obtained significant attention within the last decade. They trade-off the flexibility of general-purpose processors with the performance of application-specific circuits without tailoring the processor towards a specific application domain like Application Specific Instruction Set Processors (ASIPs). Vast amounts of reconfigurable processors have been proposed, differing in multifarious architectural decisions. However, it has always been an open question, which of the proposed concepts is more efficient in certain application and/or parameter scenarios. Various reconfigurable processors were investigated in certain scenarios, but never before a systematic design space exploration across diverse reconfigurable processor concepts has been conducted with the aim to aid a designer of a reconfigurable processor. We have developed a first-of-its-kind comprehensive design spa...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: DATE
• Authors: Lars Bauer, Muhammad Shafique, Jörg Henkel
• Keywords: DATE 2009, Diverse Reconfigurable Processors, Fine-grained Reconfigurable Processors, Hardware, Reconfigurable Processors