Reconfigurable Computing marks a revolutionary and hot topic that bridges the gap between the separate worlds of hardware and software design— the key feature of reconfigurable computing is its groundbreaking ability to perform computations in hardware to increase performance while retaining the flexibility of a software solution. Reconfigurable computers serve as affordable, fast, and accurate tools for developing designs ranging from single chip architectures to multi-chip and embedded systems. Scott Hauck and Andre DeHon have assembled a group of the key experts in the fields of both hardware and software computing to provide an introduction to the entire range of issues relating to reconfigurable computing. FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) act as the "computing vehicles to implement this powerful technology. Readers will be guided into adopting a completely new way of handling existing design concerns and be able to make use of the vast opportunities possible with reconfigurable logic in this rapidly evolving field. - Designed for both hardware and software programmers - Views of reconfigurable programming beyond standard programming languages - Broad set of case studies demonstrating how to use FPGAs in novel and efficient ways

This work is a comprehensive study of the field. It provides an entry point to the novice willing to move in the research field reconfigurable computing, FPGA and system on programmable chip design. The book can also be used as teaching reference for a graduate course in computer engineering, or as reference to advance electrical and computer engineers. It provides a very strong theoretical and practical background to the field, from the early Estrin’s machine to the very modern architecture such as embedded logic devices.

As the complexity of modern embedded systems increases, it becomes less practical to design monolithic processing platforms. As a result, reconfigurable computing is being adopted widely for more flexible design. Reconfigurable Computers offer the spatial parallelism and fine-grained customizability of application-specific circuits with the postfabrication programmability of software. To make the most of this unique combination of performance and flexibility, designers need to be aware of both hardware and software issues. FPGA users must think not only about the gates needed to perform a computation but also about the software flow that supports the design process. The goal of this book is to help designers become comfortable with these issues, and thus be able to exploit the vast opportunities possible with reconfigurable logic.

A one-of-a-kind survey of the field of Reconfigurable Computing Gives a comprehensive introduction to a discipline that offers a 10X-100X acceleration of algorithms over microprocessors Discusses the impact of reconfigurable hardware on a wide range of applications: signal and image processing, network security, bioinformatics, and supercomputing Includes the history of the field as well as recent advances Includes an extensive bibliography of primary sources

Recon?gurable computing (RC) systems have generated considerable interest in the embedded and high-performance computing communities over the past two decades, with ?eld programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) as the leading techn- ogy at the helm of innovation in this discipline. Achieving orders of magnitude performance and power improvements using FPGAs over traditional microp- cessorsis not uncommon for well-suitedapplications. But even with two decades of research and technological advances, FPGA design still presents a subst- tial challenge and often necessitates hardware design expertise to exploit its true potential. Although the challenges to address the design productivity - sues are steep, the promise and the potential of the RC technology in terms of performance, power, size, and versatility continue to attract application design engineers and RC researchers alike. The International Symposium on Applied Recon?gurable Computing (ARC) aims to bring together researchers and practitioners of RC systems with an emphasis on practical applications and design methodologies of this promising technology. This year’s ARC symposium (The sixth ARC symposium) was held in Bangkok, Thailand during March 17–19, 2010, and attracted papers in three primary focus areas:RC applications, RC architectures, and RC design meth- ologies.

The basic concepts and building blocks for the design of Fine- (or FPGA) and Coarse-Grain Reconfigurable Architectures are discussed in this book. Recently-developed integrated architecture design and software-supported design flow of FPGA and coarse-grain reconfigurable architecture are also described.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed conference proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Reconfigurable Computing: Architectures, Tools and Applications, ARC 2013, held in Los Angeles, CA, USA, in March 2013. The 28 revised papers presented, consisting of 20 full papers and 11 poster papers were carefully selected from 41 submissions. The topics covered are applications, arithmetic, design optimization for FPGAs, architectures, place and routing.