1. Programmable Hardware: Hardware or Software?
Christoph Angerer

2. Outline What is programmable hardware
Properties of hardware and software
Characteristics of programmable hardware
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer

3. Programmable Hardware
FPGAs (configureable logic elements, memory, embedded blocks)
Technology: SRAM, Flash, EPROM, (anti-) fuse.
Number of reconfigurations
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer

4. Characteristics of HW and SW
Hardware
Software
flexibility
little
good
design cycles
long
short
real time capabilities
architecture exploration
architecture predefined
custom suited
yes
existing hardware
security
result / output
circuit
code
update
not feasible
possible
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer

5. Programmable Hardware: Design Flow
Input:
Schematics, HDL (VHDL, Verilog)
Hardware constraints
SystemC (Celoxica, Cadence)
C/C++ (Catapult C Mentor Graphics, ART Designer)
Output:
Bit file, circuit
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer

6. Programmable Hardware: Design Flow
Characteristics:
Simulation at different abstraction layers
Synthesize (netlist)
Place and Route
Timing
Design cycles:
Low level design
Rapid prototyping
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer

7. Programmable Hardware Flexibility
Update capabilities limited
Architecture custom suited
Interfaces to external hardware components
Rapid prototyping / design cycles
Reconfigureable computing
one control device (µ-processor) (re-) configures several dedicated hardware components.
embedded single chip solutions
also at runtime
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer

8. Programmable Hardware: Speed
Architecture exploration almost as good as for ASICs
Flexible configurations (bus widths, pipeline stages, …)
Speed / area trade off
Low level optimisations (critical paths, manual place and route etc.) possible
Real time capabilities
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer

9. Programmable Hardware Reliability, Security
Extensive testing and „hardware – like“ design flow
Hardly possible to duplicate without sources
Encryption possible (Lattice FPGAs)
Duplication of critical parts
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer

10. Summary Hardware – like properties: Software – like properties:
Speed, security and reliability, design flow, real time capabilities, architecture exploration
Software – like properties:
Rapid prototyping, flexibility, reconfigureable computing
Closes gap between HW and SW
Depends on degree of flexibility
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer

11. ??? Questions ???
May 16th 2007
Christoph Angerer