Time Multiplexing via Circuit Folding

Abstract

Time multiplexing is an important technique to overcome the bandwidth bottleneck of limited input-output pins in FPGAs. Most prior work tackles the problem from a physical design standpoint to minimize the number of cut nets or Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) ratio through circuit partitioning or routing. In this work, we formulate a new orthogonal approach at the logic level to achieve time multiplexing through structural and functional circuit folding. The new formulation provides a smooth trade-off between bandwidth and throughput. Experiments show the effectiveness of the structural method and improved optimality of the functional method on look-up-table and flip-flop usage.