|
Until now, the folks at Synfora have predominantly been known for their PICO Express algorithmic synthesis tool, which is used to design System-on-Chip (SoC) devices. Now, in an exciting move for FPGA designers, Synfora has released PICO Express FPGA, which provides advanced algorithmic synthesis technology optimized for Xilinx' high-performance Virtex-5 and low-cost Spartan-3A DSP FPGAs.
PICO Express FPGA accepts an un-timed ANSI C representation of the required algorithms and generates corresponding RTL that can be handed over to conventional synthesis and place-and-route engines. Using this approach, PICO Express FPGA enables the implementation of large and complex sub-systems such as video codecs, wireless modems, and imaging pipelines. Synfora claims that the RTL generated by PICO Express FPGA are in line with hand crafted designs.
A high-level view of the PICO Express FPGA design flow.
In addition to the generated RTL, PICO Express FPGA creates a complete verification testbench and interfaces to industry standard simulators, synthesis and place and route tools. The technology can also create a range of SystemC models to empower full system validation and analysis.
PICO Express FPGA is a result of collaboration between Xilinx Inc. and Synfora to build a product that can synthesize efficient, multi-block pipelines from ANSI C algorithms targeting Xilinx FPGAs. PICO Express FPGA is architected to mask much of the implementation complexity by transforming an un-timed sequential C algorithm into parallel, timed multi-block pipelines that automatically take advantage of the hardware resources embedded in the FPGA devices. This enables FPGA developers to significantly reduce the time it takes to go from concept to production.
A key advantage of using PICO Express FPGA is that it enables powerful "what-if" design space exploration and eliminates the error-prone and time-consuming step of rewriting the algorithm into RTL. This allows users to quickly and easily experiment with different implementation scenarios so as to choose the optimal FPGA to achieve the required price and performance targets.
PICO Express FPGA integrates seamlessly with Xilinx ISE design tools and has been designed to take advantage of the embedded DSP and memory features of Xilinx FPGAs without the user having to make any changes to the algorithm. This permits the designers to explore within and across Xilinx product families.
In order to demonstrate the power of PICO Express FPGA, the folks at Synfora have created a rather cool demo involving real-time color conversion and Sobel edge detection. As illustrated in the image below, the original un-timed C-based algorithm first converts the incoming RGB video stream to YUV.
PICO Express FPGA C-to-RTL-to-FPGA demonstration.
Next, a Sorbel algorithm is used to detect edges. This involves an compute-intensive convolution-based algorithm to calculate the gradients in the image and to identify edges based on the gradient difference between adjacent pixels.
Finally, RGB video is generated from the processed video stream. As seen in the illustration above, half of the image is displayed as edges, while the other half is displayed as normal video so as to provide a comparison. All of this is being performed on HD Video in real time using a 133 MHz "out-of-the-box" Spartan 3E development board. This is very cool – I want to play with one myself!
The development of FPGA-specific algorithmic synthesis technology was required to ensure that results would compete with hand-crafted designs, and also to ensure the results took full advantage of Xilinx' FPGA architectures including the interface, DSP blocks, block RAM, and other key building blocks embedded in the FPGA fabric.
Synfora say that the folks at Xilinx were instrumental in setting objectives and providing guidance to drive PICO Express FPGA to meet stringent QoR targets. As a result, PICO Express FPGA is able to build efficient hardware from complex algorithms that approaches the performance of RTL hand design with significantly reduced design time. PICO Express FPGA enables designers to synthesize complex, multi-block pipelines from a single algorithm without having to perform any form of post-synthesis assembly, therefore more powerful design exploration and optimization can be applied to the final hardware.
Availability and pricing
PICO Express FPGA is currently available, US pricing starts at $150,000. For more information, a PICO Express FPGA data packet is available for download at www.synfora.com.
|
