A simulation platform for reconfigurable computing research

In this paper, we present a full-system reconfigurable computing simulation platform intended to promote innovative new research in reconfigurable computing. Currently, reconfigurable computing researchers frequently use tools such as simple trace-based simulators to provide performance estimates for their designs and methods. However, because the scope of these simulations is generally high-level and limited to the reconfigurable hardware and possibly a host processor, the results presented may unfortunately be less than completely accurate, particularly with respect to memory and processor-hardware communication timing. As reconfigurable computing systems become less theoretical and move closer to widespread realization, more accurate evaluations are necessary to compare new system designs, configuration methods, hardware scheduling algorithms, and hardware structures. We therefore discuss the issues involved in implementing a full-system simulator for reconfigurable computing, presenting specific implementation techniques, and demonstrate the value of reconfigurable computing full-system simulation on an example application.