Design and Performance of a Grid of Asynchronously Clocked Run-Time Reconfigurable Modules on a FPGA

Abstract

This paper examines the feasibility of utilizing a grid of asynchronously clocked run-time reconfigurable modules (RTRMs) on a dynamically and partially reconfigurable (DPR) FPGA. In contrast to a synchronously clocked grid studied in research, the design, the implementation, the performance and the resource utilization of an asynchronously clocked grid is shown. Such a run-time reconfigurable (RTR) grid on a FPGA can be utilized to dynamically offload compute functions on a host coupled system, providing multi-user and multi-context execution on behalf of user demands. For embedded systems it can be utilized as a highly dynamical platform by providing functional enhancement by module replacement during run-time. The presented platform leverages synthesis and development constraints and is able to increase the overall throughput by allowing multiple clock domains within the grid. The performance and the additional resource utilization of handling multiple clock domains is compared to synchronously clocked grids. As proof of concept a case study with a grid of 47 RTRMs is conducted on state of the art Virtex-5 FPGAs.