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

使用现场可编程门阵列(现场可编程门阵列)的专用硬件加速提供了极高的性能和能效，但与云中的CPU和系统内存等通用资源不同，当前云平台中的FPGA资源被绑定到物理主机，无法灵活分配，因此利用率低下。该项目名为MintCloud，旨在设计和实现一个灵活分配FPGA资源的云平台，以及一个在这样的云环境下进行分布式FPGA加速的开发和执行环境。通过弹性分配FPGA资源，MintCloud将云架构的优势带到了高性能的FPGA加速系统中，包括效率、可管理性和健壮性。云实例可以轻松获取大量的FPGA资源，基础设施对单个组件故障具有弹性。此外，通过跨云将闲置资源分配到需要它们的位置，可以高效地使用闲置资源。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现场可编程门阵列、多FPGA编程抽象和开发环境以及智能资源管理器和分配器的组件。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的、高性能的低功耗应用，使未来的计算密集型应用成为可能。此外，通过降低成本和提高可管理性，MintCloud可以为资源受限的实体和参与方提供高效的、由FPGA加速的计算的好处。同样的好处还将通过降低建立和运行教育环境的成本和进入门槛，帮助课程开发关于现场可编程门阵列加速系统的主题。所有代码、数据、配置信息、模拟结果和其他人工制品都将在网上公开提供，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储存库、长期云存储或网页中。所有这类资料库的链接将在项目网站中组织和列出，可通过以下链接访问：https://www.ics.uci.edu/~swjun/mintcloud.htmThis奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.