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。与无线联网功能相结合，这些混合芯片为传感器网络等分布式系统的广泛领域提供了显著的计算优势。这些混合体的系统软件必须提供一套相当通用的能力来支持领域应用程序，但也必须能够为每个应用程序的接口和性能需求提供专门的支持。为这些应用程序创建这样的能力是一项艰巨的挑战，部分原因是它需要同时满足表面上相互矛盾的力量：泛化和专门化。这项研究正在开发新的系统软件能力，以促进这些表面上相互矛盾的需求的解决。研究了KU-Real-Time(KURT)Linux系统软件组件的协同设计，以实现跨越FPGA/CPU组件边界的熟悉的、可移植的多线程编程模型。这项研究正在为必须在CPU和FPGA硬件上执行的线程开发同步和控制方法。它专注于增强的调度功能和嵌入式传感器网络应用程序的编程环境，为新的硬件架构提供了熟悉的编程模型。这项工作有望实现比目前广泛使用的传感器研究平台更有能力的传感、计算和数据处理服务的实时控制。除了为研究社区产生传感器网络设计的新概念和方法外，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。在这一重点领域，我们提供了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，并产生跨学科协作，扩大了对研究生和本科生的教育影响。在该项目下开发的软件工具、系统软件和硬件平台将免费分发到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.