From high level programming model to FPGA machines

Abstract

This paper presents an approach for deriving a FPGA machine from a high level parallel programming model. The model is based on the chemical reaction metaphor : the data structure is a multiset and the computation can be seen as a succession of chemical reactions consuming and producing new elements according to specific rules. Von Newman architecture are not suited to this programming style; we show the utility of FPGAs for deriving adapted hardware architectures. Feasibility has been demonstrated on the DEC-PRL Perle-1 board with implementation of a representative algorithm.<>