On power and fault-tolerance optimization in FPGA physical synthesis

Power and fault tolerance are deemed to be two orthogonal optimization objectives in FPGA synthesis, with independent attempts to develop algorithms and CAD tools to optimize each objective. In this paper, we study the relationship between these two optimizations and show empirically that there are strong ties between them. Specifically, we analyze the power and reliability optimization problems in FPGA physical synthesis (i.e., packing, placement, and routing), and show that the intrinsic structures of these two problems are very similar. Supported by the post routing results with detailed power and reliability analysis for a wide selection of benchmark circuits, we show that with minimal changes — fewer than one hundred lines of C code — an existing power-aware physical synthesis tool can be used to minimize the fault rate of a circuit under SEU faults. As a by-product of this study, we also show that one can improve the mean-time-to-failure by 100% with negligible area and delay overhead by performing fault-tolerant physical synthesis for FPGAs. The results from this study show a great potential to develop CAD systems co-optimized for power and fault-tolerance.