Scribe Notes
Multi-Context FPGAs

By YOUR NAME
Reconfigurable Computing Seminar 2/9/98
Slide 1 Slide 1: Multi-Context FPGAs

Lab 2: Limit stripes to 32 PEs wide. Deeper than wide.
Slide 2 Slide 2: Modes of Operation

 Static mode is not really static.  It consists of all of the configuration layers programmed with the same configuration.  These are then swapped in.  Architecture seemingly designed before usage models.  Usually one discusses and decides upon what it is you want it to do before you design it.  This runs extremely hot (10 watts at 40MHz).  "It doesn't work in logic engine mode (not power efficient)."

The first thing to think about when in Logic Engine Mode is that it looks bigger than it is.

Discussion:  How does PipeRench work?  Stripe is like FPGA communicating with ones above and below it.  With this design (not PipeRench), we are still limited by space.  We only have 8 configurations that can be used at a time.  In a way, the number of confuration cycles per user cycle determine the mode.

Something to think about, what are they trying to emulate?
 

Slide 3 Slide 3: Logic Engine Mode

Q:  How do they communicate between virtual FPGAs?
A:  Microregisters.
Slide 4 Slide 4: One Virtual Model

 This slide shows Slide 3 flattenned.  They can communicate any way you want through the registers.

What's wrong with this slide?  There's a micro-register between LUT 0 and LUT 1. But if we do temporal pipelining (context 0, then 1, then 2 ... then 0), the register locally disappears. So there is a crossbar between all contexts. Except that when a microregister connects a context with one BEFORE it (8 -> 5). In that case, the microregister becomes a logical register, because the logical clock occurs between the evaluation of context 8 and context 5. It's a weird virtual architecture.  Virtualization should make the model easier to understand and design to, not harder.

Are eight configurations enough?  This design is good for 8 independent architectures that time-share the hardware.  In the DHARMA paper the minimum number of contexts required for any of the benchmarkes is nineteen.  What happens if you only have eight? Let's say the DHARMA cell is a NAND gate. You must do significant chaining of LUTs in order to get to fit into 8 contexts.   Is a comparison fair?  You can't do one level of logic per context.

How about efficiency in design?  The Xilinx multi-context FPGA is 8 contexts and is 3 times as large. Therefore you have to obtain at least 60% cross-context utilization to break even.   Their agenda is to build a big FPGA has a lot of problems.  What about a tiled approach?  Then you only need to worry about boundaries.  Tiled approach is PipeRenchish with huge stripes. Problems: what to do about circular dependencies, and dependencies that go backwards as well as forwards.

Slide 5 Slide 5: Other Virtual Models?

Slide 6 Slide 6: Multi-context Problems

Slide 7 Slide 7: Time-Share Mode

 If you want to toggle between 8 seperate applications, it works well.  You don't have to route to I/O.  You could have some happy middle ground between the two.

Locality- does it happen in the FPGAs?

Slide 8 Slide 8: Middle Mode

 The left hand side of the FSM runs for awhile leaving the right hand side idle.  So you could use such a division as context boundaries.  The logic usage isn't linear.  i.e. 1/2 states != 1/2 hardware.
Slide 9 Slide 9: FSM Partitioning

 Add idle state to partition FSMs. FSMs in idle state don't need to be loaded in the FPGA.

Locality of State allows reduction in next state decoder and output decoder. Both smaller and faster implementation.

Slide 10 Slide 10: FSM Virtualization

Most optimistic scenario: Only one possible next FSM. All branching contained within FSM. Only current and next state are loaded at any time.
Slide 11 Slide 11: Data Dependency Reconfiguration

Conditional Branch:  Split into 2 contexts with a to choose it.  What does it remind you of?  CPU is an analogy (reuse hardware).

Right hand design is smaller.  Where does decoding happen?  The middle, you have more control and smaller inctructions.

Reconfigurable implementations sort of look like the middle diagram.

Slide 12 Slide 12: Reconfiguration Continuum

 CPUs with writeable Microcode: In the same category as FPGAs? What are the similarities/differences:

In the figure, the hardware becomes less general and more specific from left to right.  More performance increasing from left to right as well.  Capacity increases from right to left.

Scribed by Jeremy Horner