Lab-bc: A Serverless Computing Platform for MIT Educators

Abstract

In this thesis, we investigate the deployment of real-world Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools in the digital design classroom. Hands-on experience with these tools is essential to prepare students for state-of-the-art research and industry settings. However, modern EDA tools such as Xilinx’s Vivado have limited to no compatibility with a broad subset of architectures and operating systems used by students. Past digital design courses have sidestepped this problem by providing a lab space stocked with research-grade computers - however, this solution is incompatible with trends in remote and hybrid learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Accordingly, we have designed and implemented lab-bc, a serverless computing platform which allows our students to invoke industry-standard EDA tooling remotely. Our system is significant in that it provides locality transparency: in contrast to existing remote interfaces, students may invoke tools like Vivado as if they are installed on their own devices. This interface grants students the generality, ease-of-use, and performance of a local installation regardless of the hardware they own. lab-bc is deployed onto a set of excess servers in our lab space, where despite frequent spinning disk failures and unreliable power delivery, the system provides high-performance, strongly-sandboxed Vivado instances to MIT students nationwide.