Runtime assertions and exceptions for streaming systems

Abstract

We present an approach to enable run-time, in-circuit assertions and exceptions in reconfigurable hardware designs. Static, compile-time checking, including formal verification, can catch many errors before a reconfigurable design is implemented. However, many other errors cannot be caught by static approaches, including those due to run-time data. Our approach allows users to add run-time assertions and exceptions to a design, giving multiple ways to handle run-time errors. Our work includes an abstract approach to adding assertions and exceptions to a design, a concrete implementation for Maxeler streaming designs, and an evaluation. Results show low overhead for adding exceptions to a design.