iDEA : a DSP block based FPGA soft processor
This paper presents a very lean DSP Extension Architecture (iDEA) soft processor for Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). iDEA has been built to be as lightweight as possible, utilising the run-time flexibility of the DSP48E1 primitive in Xilinx FPGAs to serve as many processor functions as possi...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/99366 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/16290 |
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| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | This paper presents a very lean DSP Extension Architecture (iDEA) soft processor for Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). iDEA has been built to be as lightweight as possible, utilising the run-time flexibility of the DSP48E1 primitive in Xilinx FPGAs to serve as many processor functions as possible. We show how the primitive's flexibility can be leveraged within a general-purpose processor, what additional circuitry is needed, and present a full instruction-set architecture. The result is a very compact processor that can run at high speed, while executing a full gamut of general machine instructions. We provide results for a number of simple applications, and show how the processor's resource requirements and frequency compare to a Xilinx MicroBlaze soft core. Based on the DSP48E1, this processor can be deployed across next-generation Xilinx Artix-7, Kintex-7, and Virtex-7 families. |
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