Architecting, Managing, and Programming a Reconfigurable Workstation Processor
Michael Dales
Wouldn't it be good if you could tailor the processor in your workstation to
do exactly what you wanted it to do? If your graphics application needed
filter instructions, they would be there; if your encryption algorithm needed
bit-munging instructions, they would be there too. Better still, what if
instructions could be tailored at run time to a specific problem instance?
Reconfigurable processors are devices that combine one or more microprocessor
cores with an area of Field Programmable Logic (FPL). FPL allows hardware
designs to be loaded onto a chip at run time, providing the flexibility to
customise the hardware to suit current needs. However, so far these devices
have only been designed for embedded systems work, not for use in the more
dynamic and unpredictable environment of a general purpose workstation.
This talk presents a high-level summary of my PhD work, which looked how to
suitably structure a reconfigurable processor for a more dynamic environment,
how to manage it through the OS so that the new resource is shared fairly
between applications, and how to ensure it could be programmed using
conventional compiler technologies.
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