Engineering

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 200
  • (2006) Koh, Shannon; Diessel, Oliver
    Conference Paper
    On-going improvements in the scaling of FPGA device sizes and time-to-market pressures encourage the use of module-oriented design flows [3], while economic factors favour the reuse of smaller devices for high performance computational tasks. One of the core problems in proposing dynamic modular reconfiguration approaches is supporting the differing communications needs of the sequence of modules configured over time [2]. Proposals to date have not focussed on communications issues. Moreover, they have advocated the use of specific protocols [4], or they cannot be readily implemented [1], or they suffer from high overheads [5], or rely upon deprecated features such as tri-state lines [7]. In contrast, we propose a methodology for the rapid deployment of a communications infrastructure that provides the wires required by dynamic modules and allows users to implement the protocols they want. Our aim is to support new tiled dynamically reconfigurable architectures such as Virtex-4, as well as mature device families.

  • (2006) Malik, Usama; Diessel, Oliver
    Conference Paper
    In line with Shannon's ideas, we define the entropy of FPGA reconfiguration to be the amount of information needed to configure a given circuit onto a given device. We propose using entropy as a gauge of the maximum configuration compression that can be achieved and determine the entropy of a set of 24 benchmark circuits for the Virtex device family. We demonstrate that simple off-the-shelf compression techniques such as Golomb encoding and hierarchical vector compression achieve compression results that are within 1-10% of the theoretical bound. We present an enhanced configuration memory system based on the hierarchical vector compression technique that accelerates reconfiguration in proportion to the amount of compression achieved. The proposed system demands little additional chip area and can be clocked at the same rate as the Virtex configuration clock.

  • (2006) Koh, Lih; Diessel, Oliver
    Conference Paper
    Bypass delays are expected to grow beyond 1ns as technology scales. These delays necessitate pipelining of bypass paths at processor frequencies above 1GHz and thus affect the performance of sequential code sequences. We propose dealing with these delays through a dynamic functional unit chaining approach. We study the performance benefits of a superscalar, out-of-order processor augmented with a two-by-two array of ALUs interconnected by a fast, partial bypass network. An online profiler guides the automatic configuration of the network to accelerate specific patterns of dependent instructions. A detailed study of benchmark simulations demonstrates these first steps towards mapping binaries to a small coarse-grained array at runtime can improve instruction throughput by over 18% and 25% when the microarchitecure includes bypass delays of one cycle and two cycles, respectively.



  • (2006) Timms, W.A.; Pells, S.E.; Cunningham, I.
    Report


  • (2006) Timms, W.A.; Aceworth, R.I.; Merrick, N.; Badenhop, A.M.
    Report

  • (2006) Peters, Greg M.; Rowley, Hazel; Lundie, S; Flint, Megan
    Conference Paper
    Challenges like population growth and climate change are maintaining a high level of dynamism in the water industry, resulting in large capital investments and the consideration of alternatives to conventional water supplies. In this environment, LCA is appreciated as a useful planning tool, but it has not yet achieved its full potential due to the lack of a national sustainability framework and other factors. In this paper, examples of recent LCAs in the water industry are discussed. The practical justification and resourcing of LCAs are examined. In addition, two case studies are presented illustrating how LCA can assist the planning process and the degree to which hybridisation presents a methodological challenge to traditional process LCA. Finally, the implications of the new WSAA Sustainability Framework for the future of LCA practice are discussed.