CNS Core: Small: MintCloud: An Elastic Multitenant FPGA Cloud

使用现场可编程门阵列（FPGA）的特定应用硬件加速提供了极高的性能和功率效率，但目前可用的云平台中的FPGA资源使用效率低下，因为它们与物理主机绑定并且无法弹性分配，这与云中的通用资源（如CPU和系统内存）不同。MintCloud项目旨在设计和实现一个FPGA资源弹性分配的云平台，以及在云环境下分布式FPGA加速的开发和执行环境，通过弹性分配FPGA资源，将云架构的优势带到高性能FPGA加速系统中，包括效率、可扩展性和鲁棒性。 云实例可以轻松获取大量FPGA资源，基础设施对单个组件故障具有弹性。此外，通过在需要的云中分配空闲资源，可以有效地使用它们。为了实现这一目标，该项目将开发包括通过云网络安全访问远程FPGA、多FPGA编程抽象和开发环境以及智能资源管理器和分配器在内的组件。MintCloud为工业界和学术界提供了一个平台，可以在云中以低成本快速开发和部署复杂、高性能、低功耗的应用，使未来的计算密集型应用成为可能。此外，通过降低成本和改善可扩展性，MintCloud可以为资源受限的实体和各方提供高效的FPGA加速计算的好处。同样的好处也将有助于FPGA加速系统主题的课程开发工作，降低设置和运行教育环境的成本和进入门槛。所有代码、数据、配置信息、仿真结果和其他工件都将在网上公开，直到它们被认为对外部实体不再有用。根据资源的类型和大小，它们将存储在git存储库，长期云存储或网页中。所有这些知识库的链接将在项目网站上组织和列出，可通过以下链接访问：https://www.ics.uci.edu/~swjun/mintcloud.htmThis奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Application-specific hardware acceleration using Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) provide extremely high performance and power efficiency, but FPGA resources in currently available cloud platforms are used inefficiently because they are tied to physical host machines and cannot be allocated elastically, unlike general-purpose resources in the cloud such as CPU and system memory. This project, MintCloud, aims to design and implement a cloud platform for elastic allocation of FPGA resources, as well as a development and execution environment for distributed FPGA acceleration in such a cloud environment.By elastically allocating FPGA resources, MintCloud brings the benefits of cloud architectures to high-performance FPGA-accelerated systems, including efficiency, manageability, and robustness. Cloud instances can easily obtain a large amount of FPGA resources, and the infrastructure is resilient to individual component failures. Furthermore, idle resources can be used efficiently by allocating them across the cloud where they are needed. For this goal, this project will develop components including secure access into remote FPGAs over the cloud network, a multi-FPGA programming abstraction and development environment, as well as an intelligent resource manager and allocator.MintCloud provides a platform for industry and academia to rapidly develop and deploy complex, high-performance low-power applications at a low cost in the cloud, enabling the computationally intensive applications of the future. Furthermore, by lowering cost and improving manageability, MintCloud can deliver the benefits of efficient, FPGA-accelerated computation to resource-constrained entities and parties. The same benefits will also aid curriculum development efforts on the topic of FPGA-accelerated systems, by lowering the cost and barrier-of-entry of setting up and operating an educational environment.All code, data, configuration information, simulation results, and other artifacts will be made openly available online until they are deemed no longer useful to outside entities. Depending on the type and size of the resources, they will be stored either in git repositories, long-term cloud storage, or as web pages. Links to all such repositories will be organized and listed in the project website, reachable at the following link: https://www.ics.uci.edu/~swjun/mintcloud.htmThis award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.