Modeling Methodologies for Dynamic Reconfigurable Systems (Paperback)

Aim of this work is to outline a new methodological flow that allows system designers to make use of Dynamic Reconfiguration in a new and intuitive way. As a matter of fact, Dynamic Reconfiguration can lead to enormous improvements in embedded systems design, but it is, at the same time, characterized by complexity and toughness of use. The proposed methodological flow is centered on the model-based design paradigm; it relies upon Simulink by The MathWorks as long as several tools developed by the DRESD team (www.dresd.org) and by the targeted FPGAs producers. The main issue addressed is the implementation of large designs onto FPGAs with limited available resources. By applying the normal synthesis process to these systems the outcome will be a failure due to the lack of resources. A flow based on Dynamic Partial Reconfigurability will instead allow its successful implementation: since systems are composed of blocks which need intermediate input(s) and produce intermediate output(s), these blocks can be separately synthesized a priori and then hard-coded onto the PLD when their functionalities become necessary.