Computing substrates such as multi-core processors or Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) share the characteristic of having two-dimensional arrays of processing elements interconnected by a routing fabric. At one end of the spectrum, FPGAs have single-output programmable logic functions, and at the other end, multi-core chips have complex 32/64-bit processing cores. For different applications, different programmable substrates produce the best area-power-performance tradeoffs. This project is developing a large-scale multi-core substrate that has hundreds or thousands of simple processing cores along with a compilation system that maps computations onto this fabric. This many-core architecture, named Diastolic Array, is coarser-grained than FPGAs but finer-grained than conventional multi-cores. To efficiently exploit such a large number of processing cores, the architecture needs spatially mapping a computation to processing cores and communication to the point-to-point interconnect network. To be practically viable, this mapping process must be automated and effective. The project addresses this challenge by simultaneously developing hardware architecture and a compilation system.

A diastolic array chip is expected to outperform FPGAs or general-purpose processors on an interesting class of applications, enabling more efficient prototyping and low-volume production. The outcomes of this project such as statically-configured interconnection architecture with associated algorithms for routing and resource allocation will also be applicable to other multi-core designs. Finally, the project is developing a new parallel processing module for an undergraduate computer architecture class to give sophomores early exposure to parallel hardware, experience with writing parallel programs and using compilers that exploit parallelism.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2009-09-01
Budget End
2012-08-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$450,000
Indirect Cost
Name
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Cambridge
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02139