Reconfigurable Structures

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The course takes place in the summer semester.

Dates: Tuesdays from 08:30 a.m. in room 1332 and Wednesdays from 08:30 a.m. in room -1605

Structure: 6 CP, 2V+2Ü, 4 SWS

Contents and goals

The goal of the lecture is a deep understanding of the functionality and internal structure of reconfigurable or user-programmable circuits (esp. FPGAs) as well as the basics of the software tools used for their programming.

Contents and Goals

The lecture covers the following topics:

  • Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs),
  • Placement and wiring,
  • Coarse granular architectures,
  • Reconfigurable systems,
  • Dynamic reconfiguration.

The learner can

  • outline the basic structure of FPGAs,
  • Explain methods of placement and wiring as well as their context,
  • Justify quantitative architectural decisions,
  • describe and evaluate different architectural models and reconfiguration procedures,
  • develop their own architectural proposals,
  • Explain dynamic reconfiguration procedures,
  • Assess the potential uses of FPGAs.

Overview

The goal of the lecture is a deep understanding of the functionality and the internal structure of reconfigurable or user-programmable circuits (especially FPGAs) as well as the basics of the software tools used for their programming. The knowledge imparted should enable the participants to

  • evaluate different architectural models,
  • to understand the internal structure of FPGAs,
  • to understand different reconfiguration mechanisms,
  • to assess the possible uses of reconfigurable hardware in concrete individual cases.

In addition, the foundations are laid for the integration of reconfigurable architectural elements and reconfiguration concepts into chip and circuit design projects, as they are now required in many companies.

The lecture is aimed at Master students (Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, FUSE), but also at Bachelor students who would like to include Master courses in their Bachelor studies (2V+2Ü, 6 CP).

 

Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to

  • outline the basic structure of FPGAs,
  • Explain methods of placement and wiring and their interrelationship,
  • justify quantitative architecture decisions,
  • describe and evaluate different architecture models and reconfiguration methods,
  • develop own architecture proposals,
  • Explain dynamic reconfiguration methods,
  • Assess possible applications of FPGAs.

Lecture Materials

All materials and a forum can be found in Moodle at the University of Kassel. Please register with Moodle in any case, as current information will be disseminated via Moodle.

All course materials as well as a discussion forum can be found in the Moodle course of the lecture. Please be sure to enroll in this course if you plan to attend the lecture.

There is no current Moodle course available at the moment!

Literature

The scientific publications used ("papers") will be announced in the lecture.

Textbooks:

  • Scott Hauck, Andre DeHon (Herausgeber): Reconfigurable Computing: The Theory and Practice of FPGA-Based Computation, Morgan Kaufmann Series in Systems on Silicon, Academic Press (9. November 2007), ISBN: 0123705223  
  • Christophe Bobda: Introduction to Reconfigurable Computing: Architectures, algorithms and applications, Springer Netherlands; Auflage: 1 (15. Oktober 2007), ISBN: 1402060882 

In addition, the following books are relevant for the lecture contents:

  • Vaughn Betz, Alexander Marquardt, Jonathan Rose: Architecture and CAD for Deep-Submicron FPGAs, Springer, Berlin; Auflage: 1 (Februar 1999), ISBN: 0792384601 
  • Dimitrios Soudris, Stamatis Vassiliadis (Herausgeber): Fine- and Coarse-Grain Reconfigurable Computing, Springer-Verlag Gmbh; Auflage: Har/Cdr (12. Oktober 2007), ISBN: 1402065043 
  • Ramachandran Vaidyanathan, Jerry Trahan: Dynamic Reconfiguration: Architectures and Algorithms (Series in Computer Science), Springer Netherlands; Auflage: 1 (Dezember 2003), ISBN: 0306481898

In addition, the following books are relevant to the lecture content:

  • Vaughn Betz, Alexander Marquardt, Jonathan Rose: Architecture and CAD for Deep-Submicron FPGAs, Springer, Berlin; Edition: 1 (February 1999), ISBN: 0792384601.
  • Dimitrios Soudris, Stamatis Vassiliadis (Editors): Fine- and Coarse-Grain
  • Reconfigurable Computing, Springer-Verlag Gmbh; Edition: Har/Cdr (October 12, 2007), ISBN: 1402065043 
  • Ramachandran Vaidyanathan, Jerry Trahan: Dynamic Reconfiguration: Architectures and Algorithms (Series in Computer Science), Springer Netherlands; Edition: 1 (December 2003), ISBN: 0306481898

Proof of Performance

The proof of achievement is furnished by a term paper with presentation and discussion. The exact modalities will be announced in the course.

Notes for the housework

The templates for the term paper can be found at http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/authors/authors_journals.html (please use the versions for Transactions(!) there) and at Moodle at the documents for the lecture.