Run-time mapping for dynamically-added applications in reconfigurable embedded systems

Abstract

The increasing popularity of multi-core System-on-Chip platforms introduces new challenges, both in terms of hardware platforms and design methodologies. Dynamic reconfiguration can be exploited to increase the flexibility of the system and to implement multiple applications, since it is possible to easily switch between them by reconfiguring part of the device at run-time. Additionally, new applications may be included in the system after the design time synthesis has been completed. This paper addresses the problem of mapping new applications on the device area at run-time, by reusing existing components of the system. We propose an heuristic technique that is able to determine how the new application should be mapped in a short time and, thanks to the reuse policy, to immediately deploy the solution on the device. The proposed algorithm also takes into consideration two conflicting performance metrics, in order to generate a good quality result.