Title
Precise Pointer Analysis in High-Level Synthesis
Abstract
Pointer analysis computes the set of memory locations that each pointer access can point to during hardware runtime. The more sensitive the pointer analysis, the more precise these sets are likely to be, reducing unnecessary sharing of memory resources between instructions during high-level synthesis (HLS) memory generation. Despite the importance of precision, modern HLS tools typically sacrifice precision to prioritise quicker analysis times, although there are several pointer analyses that can produce reasonably precise points-to sets within an acceptable amount of time. In this paper, we explore the effects of precise pointer analysis within a modern HLS tool (LegUp) on a set of benchmark programs (PTABen) that are challenging to its original pointer analysis. We see precise analysis that reduces unnecessary memory sharing, leading to average LUT savings of 60% and runtime improvements of 42%.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.1109/FPL50879.2020.00044
2020 30th International Conference on Field-Programmable Logic and Applications (FPL)
Keywords
DocType
ISBN
pointer analysis,high level synthesis,memory generation,compilers
Conference
978-1-7281-9902-3
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Nadesh Ramanathan1193.84
George A. Constantinides200.34
John Wickerson3357.17