Virtualisation for FPGA Accelerators. Information and communication technologies: ICT Networks & Distributed Systems

EPSRC汇款：信息和通信技术：ICT网络和分布式系统FPGA已被证明可用于从嵌入式到数据中心规模的广泛应用领域。它们的主要优势之一是通信和计算的紧密耦合，提供了思考系统属性（如响应性和安全性）的替代方法。随着能源效率变得越来越重要，物联网（IoT）等场景推动了连接性的增加，我们有机会重新评估在FPGA上实现计算的方法，这些方法传统上被视为其他硅技术的替代品。目前，大多数FPGA系统都被设计为单点解决方案。为了将FPGA更有效地嵌入到网络系统中，我们必须支持在其上虚拟化计算的方法，以允许更动态和自适应的使用，并使其能够部署在更广泛的环境中，例如云。该项目探索了在FPGA之上构建抽象的方法，以在一系列网络环境中实现快速编译，快速部署和自适应重新配置，并探索此类系统的安全性和可靠性。这建立在覆盖架构，部分重新配置，智能网络控制器和接口平台的前沿研究基础上。

EPSRC Remit: Information and communication technologies: ICT Networks & Distributed SystemsFPGAs have demonstrated use in a wide range of application domains, from embedded to data centre scale. One of their key strengths is the close coupling of communication and computation that offers alternative ways of thinking about system properties such as responsiveness and security. As energy efficiency becomes more important, and increasing connectivity is driven by scenarios such as the Internet of Things (IoT), we have an opportunity to re-evaluate methods for implementing computation on FPGAs that have traditionally been viewed as alternatives to other silicon technologies. Most FPGA systems today are designed as single point solutions. To embed FPGAs more effectively in networked systems, we must support methods for virtualising computation on them to allow more dynamic and adaptive use, and to enable them to be deployed in wider contexts, such as the cloud. This project explores ways of building abstractions on top of FPGAs to enable fast compilation, rapid deployment and adaptive reconfiguration in a range of networked contexts, with exploration of security and reliability in such systems. This builds on cutting edge research in overlay architectures, partial reconfiguration, smart network controllers and interface platforms.