New Architectures and CAD Algorithms for Field-Programmable Logic Fabrics

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A Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit that can be programmed to implement virtually any digital circuit. FPGA's are widely used in applications such as telecommunications, bioinformatics, visualization systems, and signal processing. An FPGA's programmability provides users the ability to implement large, complex circuits without requiring access to an expensive state-of-the-art chip manufacturing plant, an expense that is out-of-reach for most small and medium-sized electronics companies. The costs of manufacturing integrated circuits is growing so dramatically that, in the near future, only the large processor, graphics engine, system-on-chip and FPGA companies will be able to build leading-edge devices. For everyone else, programmable logic will provide the only option for building an integrated circuit using leading-edge processes. This will lead to the era of ubiquitous programmable logic, where generic programmable logic devices will be the substrate upon which virtually all applications are built. This research described in this proposal seeks new architectures, CAD algorithms, and design techniques that will make these large ubiquitous programmable devices viable. Straightforward scaling of current FPGA techniques to larger chips will not suffice, primarily due to design complexity and designer productivity issues. Specifically, this research focuses on three subprojects, each of which addresses designer productivity: (1) the design of FPGA architectures that are more amenable to fast CAD tools, (2) the integration of debugging circuitry into an FPGA device, and (3) a methodology for the rapid design and optimization of very large reconfigurable fabrics. Together, these subprojects will significantly improve the productivity both of designers using programmable devices, and of the developers of the programmable devices themselves. As a result, the benefits of programmability will be available to a much broader design community than ever before.