Extending the Thread Execution Model for Hybrid CPU/FPGA Architectures

最近出现的CPU/FPGA混合芯片正在成为未来嵌入式系统COTS硬件平台的重要组成部分。结合无线网络功能，这些混合芯片为传感器网络等广泛的分布式系统提供了显著的计算优势。用于这些混合的系统软件必须提供一套相当通用的功能来支持领域应用程序，但也必须能够专门支持每个应用程序的接口和性能需求。为这些应用程序创建这样的功能在某种程度上是一个困难的挑战，因为它需要同时满足明显矛盾的力量：泛化和专门化。这项研究正在开发新的系统软件功能，以促进解决这些看似矛盾的需求。研究了KU Real-Time (KURT) Linux系统软件组件在软件/FPGA实现中的协同设计，以促进跨FPGA/CPU组件边界的熟悉且可移植的多线程编程模型。该研究正在开发必须在CPU和FPGA硬件上同时执行的线程的同步和控制方法。它专注于增强调度能力和嵌入式传感器web应用程序的编程环境，为新的硬件架构提供了一种熟悉的编程模型。这项工作有望实现比目前广泛使用的传感器研究平台所能支持的更强大的传感、计算和数据处理服务的实时控制（在芯片上）。除了为研究界产生传感器网页设计的新概念和新方法外，这项工作还支持在基于计算机的系统工程中建立一个重点领域的教育目标。在这个重点领域，我们提供嵌入式和实时系统的课程，包括传感器网络，嵌入式系统的运行时软件和分布式系统。该项目通过将研究活动和成果整合到课堂中并产生跨学科合作，扩大了对研究生和本科生的教育影响。本项目开发的软件工具、系统软件和硬件平台将免费分发给其他大学和学生实验室进行实验和项目。

AndrewsRecently emerging CPU/FPGA hybrid chips are becoming important componentsof COTS hardware platforms for future embedded systems. Coupled with wireless networking capabilities, these hybrid chips offer significant computational advantages for a wide domain of distributed systems such as sensor webs. Systemsoftware for these hybrids must provide a fairly general set ofcapabilities to support domain applications, butmust also be capable of specialized support for each application's interfacing and performance needs. Creating such a capability for these applications is a difficult challenge in part, because it requires the simultaneous satisfaction of apparently contradictory forces: generalization and specialization.This research is developing new system software capabilities that promotethe resolution of these seemingly contradictory requirements. Co-design of KU Real-Time (KURT) Linux system software components for software/FPGA implementation is studied to facilitate a familiar and portable multi-threaded programming model across the FPGA/CPU component boundaries. The research is developing synchronization and control methods for threads that must execute on both CPU and FPGA hardware. It focuses on enhanced scheduling capabilities and a programming environment for embedded sensor web applications that presents a familiar programming model for the new hardware architectures. This work is expected to enable more capable real-time control (on a chip) of sensing, computation, and data handling services than current widely-used sensor research platforms can support.In addition to generating new concepts and approaches to sensor web designfor the research community, this effort supports an educational goal ofestablishing a focus area in the engineering of computer based systems. Within this focus area, we courses in embedded and realtime systems including sensor webs, run time software for embeddedsystems, and distributed systems, are offered. This project broadens educational impact for both graduate and undergraduate students by integrating research activities and results into the classroom and producing interdisciplinary collaborative. The software tools, systems software, and hardware platforms developed under this project will be freely distributed to other universities and student laboratories for experimentation and projects.