Flysig: Dataflow Oriented Delay-Insensitive Processor for Rapid Prototyping of Signal Processing

Abstract

As the one-chip integration of HW-modules designed by different companies becomes more and more popular reliability of a HW-design and evaluation of the timing behavior during the prototype stage are absolutely necessary. One way to guarantee reliability is the use of robust design styles, e.g., delay-insensitivity. For early timing evaluation two aspects must be considered: a) The timing needs to be proportional to technology variations and b) the implemented architecture should be identical for prototype and target. The first can be met also by delay-insensitive implementation. The latter one is the key point. A unified architecture is needed for prototyping as well as implementation. Our new approach to rapid prototyping of signal processing tasks is based on a configurable, delay-insensitive implemented processor called Flysig. In essence, the Flysig processor can be understood as a complex FPGA where the CLBs are substituted by bit-serial operators. In this paper the general concept is detailed and first experimental results are given for demonstration of the main advantages: delay-insensitive design style, direct correspondence between prototyping and target architecture, high performance and reasonable shortening of the design cycle.