A Lightweight Approach for Embedded Reconfiguration of FPGAs

Abstract

This paper presents a lightweight approach for embedded reconfiguration of Xilinx Virtex II/spl trade/ series FPGAs. A hardware and software infrastructure is reported that enables an FPGA to dynamically reconfigure itself under the control of a soft microprocessor core that is instantiated on the same array. The system provides a highly integrated, lightweight approach to dynamic reconfiguration for embedded systems. It combines the benefits of intelligent control, fast reconfiguration and small overhead.