A benchmark suite for evaluating configurable computing systems—status, reflections, and future directions

Abstract

This paper presents a benchmark suite for evaluating a configurable computing system's infrastructure, both tools and architecture. A novel aspect of this work is the use of stressmarks, benchmarks that focus on a specific characteristic or property of interest. This is in contrast to traditional approaches that utilize functional benchmarks, benchmarks that emphasize measuring end-to-end execution time. This suite can be used to assess a broad range of configurable computing systems, including single configurable devices, multiple configurable devices, and mixed architectures, such as fixed-plus-variable devices and hybrid systems. In addition, aspects that are particularly relevant to the domain of configurable computing, such as run-time reconfiguration and variable precision arithmetic, are considered. The paper provides an overview of the benchmark suite, presents some implementation results on an Annapolis Micro Systems WILDFORCE board, reflects on the benchmark suite developed, and briefly describes future work.