Virtual memory window for application-specific reconfigurable coprocessors

Reconfigurable Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) on the market consist of full-fledged processors and large Field-Programmable Gate-Arrays (FPGAs). The latter can be used to implement the system glue logic, various peripherals, and applicationspecific coprocessors. Using FPGAs for application-specific coprocessors has certain speedup potentials, but it is less present in practice because of the complexity of interfacing the software application with the coprocessor. Another obstacle is the lack of portability across different systems. In this work, we present a virtualisation layer consisting of an operating-system extension and a hardware component. It lowers the complexity of interfacing and increases portability potentials, while it also allows the coprocessor to access the user virtual memory through a virtual memory window. The burden of moving data between processor and coprocessor is shifted from the programmer to the operating system. Since the virtualisation layer components hide physic...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: DAC
• Authors: Miljan Vuletic, Laura Pozzi, Paolo Ienne
• Keywords: Certain Speedup Potentials, DAC 2004, Design Automation, Increases Portability Potentials, Virtualisation Layer Components