Logic Partition Orderings for Multi-FPGA Systems

Abstract

One of the critical issues for multi-FPGA systems is developing software tools for automatically mapping circuits. In this paper we consider one step in this process, partitioning. We describe the task of finding partition orderings, i.e., determining the way in which a circuit should be bipartitioned so as to best map it to a multi-FPGA system. This allows multi-FPGA partitioners to harness standard partitioning techniques. We develop an algorithm for finding partition orderings, which includes a method for increasing parallelism in the process, as well as for including multi-sectioning and multi-way partitioning algorithms. This method is very efficient, and capable of handling most of the current multi-FPGA topologies.