Reconfigurable Computing

• Transparent Management of Reconfigurable Hardware in Embedded Operating Systems
• Software-centric reconfigurable architectures for distributed OS-based computing
• Low Cost Adaptive Optics Control System (LCAOS)

Inspiration

Reconfigurable computing involves manipulation of the logic within the FPGA at run-time.

Research Objectives

Reconfigurable computing has several advantages.

• It is possible to achieve greater functionality with a simpler hardware design, because not all of the logic must be present in the FPGA at all times.
• Systems based on reconfigurable computing are upgradable in the field. Such changes extend the useful life of the system, thus reducing lifetime costs. On a low-volume product, there will be some production cost savings, which result from the elimination of the expense of ASIC design and fabrication.
• The final advantage of reconfigurable computing is reduced time-to-market. This allows an incremental design flow even after final product deployment.

Enabling Technologies

• Reconfigurable digital platform, FPGA (Xilinx Virtex)
• Embedded processors : PicoBlaze, Microblaze, PowerPC
• uCLinux
• EDA Toolsuites : Xilinx ISE/EDK , Modelsim