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The iDEA DSP block based soft processor for FPGAs
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Cheah, Hui Yan, Brosser, Fredrik, Fahmy, Suhaib A. and Maskell, Douglas L. (2014) The iDEA DSP block based soft processor for FPGAs. ACM Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems, 7 (3). 19:1-19:23. ISSN 1936-7406.
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Official URL: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2664590.26294...
Abstract
DSP blocks in modern FPGAs can be used for a wide range of arithmetic functions, offering increased performance, while saving logic resources for other uses. They have evolved to better support a plethora of signal processing tasks, meaning that in other application domains, they may be under-utilised. The DSP48E1 primitives in new Xilinx devices support dynamic programmability, that can help extend their usefulness; the specific function of a DSP block can be modified on a cycle by cycle basis. However, the standard synthesis flow does not leverage this flexibility in the vast majority of cases. The lean DSP Extension Architecture (iDEA) presented in this paper builds around the dynamic programmability of a single DSP48E1 primitive, with minimal additional logic to create a general purpose processor supporting a full instruction-set architecture. The result is a very compact, fast processor that can execute a full gamut of general machine instructions. We show a number of simple applications compiled using a MIPS compiler, and translated to the iDEA instruction set, comparing with a Xilinx MicroBlaze, to show estimated performance figures. Being based on the DSP48E1, this processor can be deployed across next-generation Xilinx Artix-7, Kintex-7, Virtex-7, and Zynq families.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Electronic computers. Computer science. Computer software T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Engineering > Engineering | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | ACM Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems | ||||||
Publisher: | Association for Computing Machinery | ||||||
ISSN: | 1936-7406 | ||||||
Official Date: | 1 August 2014 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 7 | ||||||
Number: | 3 | ||||||
Page Range: | 19:1-19:23 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 17 January 2018 |
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