Title
Resource-Efficient Designs Using an Aspect-Oriented Approach
Abstract
The increasing capability and flexibility of reconfigurable hardware, such as Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), give developers a wide range of architectural choices that can satisfy various non-functional requirements, such as those involving performance, resource and energy efficiency. This paper describes a novel approach, based on an aspect-oriented language called LARA, that enables systematic coding and reuse of optimisation strategies that address such non-functional requirements. Our approach will be presented in three steps. First, this approach is shown to support design space exploration (DSE) which makes use of various compilation and optimisation tools, through the deployment of a master weaver and multiple slave weavers. Second, we present three compilation and synthesis strategies for word-length optimisation based on this approach, which involve three tools: the WLOT word-length optimiser deploying a combination of analytical methods, the AutoESL tool compiling C-based descriptions into hardware, and the ISE tool targeting Xilinx devices. Third, the effectiveness of the approach is evaluated. In addition to promoting design re-use, our approach can be used to automatically produce a range of designs with different trade-offs in resource usage and numerical accuracy according to a given LARA-based strategy. For example, one implementation for a sub band filter in an MPEG encoder provides 31% savings in area using non-uniform quantizers when compared to a floating-point description with a similar error specification at the output. Another fixed-point implementation for the grid Iterate kernel used by a 3D path planning application consumed 25% less resources when the error specification is increased from 1e-6 to 1e-4.
Year
DOI
Venue
2012
10.1109/ICCSE.2012.62
C3S2E
Keywords
Field
DocType
word-length optimisation,novel approach,design space exploration,optimisation strategy,error specification,aspect-oriented approach,wlot word-length optimiser,design re-use,ise tool,autoesl tool,optimisation tool,resource-efficient designs,aspect oriented programming,weaving
Aspect-oriented programming,Efficient energy use,Computer science,High-level synthesis,Field-programmable gate array,Real-time computing,Encoder,Design space exploration,Computer engineering,Grid,Reconfigurable computing,Distributed computing
Conference
ISSN
ISBN
Citations 
1949-0828
978-0-7695-4914-9
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
8
8
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
J. G. F. Coutinho112517.26
Sujit Bhattacharya210513.00
Wayne Luk33752438.09
George A. Constantinides41391160.26
Joao M. P. Cardoso5586.78
Tiago Carvalho6417.98
Pedro C. Diniz7106185.47
Zlatko Petrov81257.51