Computer Architecture bayed on Autonomous Reconfigurable Logic Device

本课题研究了基于自主可重构逻辑器件的体系结构及其应用，提出了可重构逻辑器件的一种扩展-塑料单元体系结构（PlasticCellArchitecture，PCA），该体系结构具有以下特点：电路间的异步协作，对象间的流水线通信，同构的、可重定位的、可扩展的单元阵列，可编程逻辑器件的可重构性等。为了实现上述特点，本文提出了一种由塑料件和内置件两层组成的结构。塑料部件用作可编程逻辑器件或存储器。内置部件用于对象之间的通信、对存储器的访问以及塑料部件的重新配置。PCA被期望通过对象的异步流水线通信来更快地工作，而由于全局互连的延迟，被认为难以加速在常规PLD中实现的电路的时钟周期。此外，PCA以其独特的结构和灵活的可重构性，有望成为可重构计算的关键器件，为了实现这样的计算系统，我们进行了以下几方面的研究：（1）PCA器件的结构设计、物理设计和VLSI实现;（2）设计方法、设计语言、计算机辅助设计工具、模拟器和用于在PCA装置中实现目标功能的库;（4）PCA在图像编解码、音频编解码、通信等领域的应用。

In this project, architecture and applications based on autonomous reconfigurable logic devices has been explored in order to facilitate reconfigurable computing systems.Plastic Cell Architecture (PCA) is proposed as one of extensions of programmable logic devices with the unique characteristics as follows ; asynchronous cooperation of circuits referred to as objects; pipelined communication between objects ; array of homogeneous, relocatable, and expandable cells; unification of logic and memory; and dynamic reconfiguration by itself.In order to realize above characteristics, an architecture which consists of two layers is proposed referred to as a plastic part and a built-in part. The plastic part works as a programmable logic device or a memory. The built-in part works for communications between objects, access to memories, and reconfiguration of the plastic part. PCA is expected to work faster by asynchronous pipelined communication of objects, while it is considered to be difficult to accelerate the clock cycle of a circuit implemented in conventional PLDs because of the delay of global interconnections. Furthermore, PCA is expected to be a key device for reconfigurable computing by virtue of its unique architecture and flexibility in reconfiguration.In order to facilitate such a computing system, we have explored the followings ; (1) architectural design, physical design, and VLSI implementation of PCA device ; (2) design methodology, design language, computer aided design tools, simulators, and libraries for implementation of target functions in the PCA device ; (3) methodology to manage hardware resources for dynamic reconfiguration in PCA device ; (4) applications of PCA in the field of image codec, audio codec, and communications.