Exploiting operation level parallelism through dynamically reconfigurable datapaths

Increasing non-recurring engineering (NRE) and mask costs are making it harder to turn to hardwired Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) solutions for high performance applications [12]. The volume required to amortize these high costs has been increasing, making it increasingly expensive to afford ASIC solutions for medium volume products. This has led to designers seeking programmable solutions of varying sorts using these so-called programmable platforms. These programmable platforms span a large range from bit-level programmable Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), to word-level programmable application-specific, and in some cases even general-purpose processors. The programmability comes with a power and performance overhead. Attempts to reduce this overhead typically involve making some core hardwired ASIC like logic blocks accessible to the programmable elements. This paper presents one such hybrid solution in this space ? a relatively simple processor with a dynam...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2002
• Where: DAC
• Authors: Zhining Huang, Sharad Malik
• Keywords: DAC 2002, Design Automation, Programmable Gate Arrays, Programmable Solutions, So-called Programmable Platforms