Hardware Description Languages for Systolic Architectures

摘要

Systolic principles can be used to construct special purpose computer systems that achieve high throughput by exploiting algorithmic properties. These principles of regularity, localized communications, and parallel/pipelined execution nicely match the capabilities of integrated circuit technology. Hence, systolic arrays are an attractive method for building high-speed special-purpose hardware to rapidly solve sophisticated problems. However, the use of special-purpose hardware limits the applications base, making fixed costs such as those associated with system design much more critical. Although design costs are in part reduced by the very nature of systolic systems, further reduction can result from the use of automated design and descriptive tools. The design process stretches from the conception of the algorithm and its mapping onto an architecture down to the electronic implementation. In general, a good set of design tools allows the designer to describe, test, and trade off only those factors that are important at that particular point in the design process. A principle requirement in automating the design process is a formal notational mechanism that is capable of providing complete and unambiguous descriptions of the concepts being explored. This notational mechanism then provides a common basis for comparisons between alternate methods and an input mechanism to automated design tools. This thesis identifies the notational features that are necessary for the description of highly parallel, regular architectures such as systolic arrays. A set of language criteria is developed. A number of the more popular HDLs are evaluated using these criteria and their shortcomings noted. 65 references. (ERA citation 10:012013)