1996 · 13 citations · 0 references
EngineeringComputer EngineeringComputer ScienceCompilersProgramming LanguagesReconfigurable ComputingCompiler ConstructionEmbedded Reconfigurable SystemsHardware-software PartitioningReconfigurable Embedded SystemsReconfigurable System ArchitectureCompilation For Reconfigurable HardwareCompiler SupportHardware-software IntegrationHardware-software Interface DesignReconfigurable System SynthesisSoftware-to-hardware Compilation
The Hardware Compilation Research Group at Oxford is developing a unified framework that allows programs to be efficiently mapped to either hardware or software. Their approach includes reconfigurable computing platforms, the Handel‑C language for hardware compilation, and a case study that refines a sequential program into a parallel, faster implementation. The case study demonstrates that the refined Handel‑C program runs significantly faster by better exploiting hardware parallelism.
We present on overview of the work of the Hardware Compilation Research Group at Oxford on hardware-software cosynthesis. We refer to the ongoing work to develop a single framework for expressing programs which can be efficiently mapped into either hardware or software. Our supporting work on reconfigurable computing platforms is also briefly described. Our Handel-C language for hardware compilation is presented and we explain some of the major design decisions in its formation. We present an extended example of the development of a Handel-C program from an initial (sequential, simple, 'obviously-correct') implementation, to a refined (parallel, more complex, but still correct) implementation which makes better use of hardware and runs much faster.