Grant: Strategic Projects Supplemental Competition

The development of computer chips normally requires access to a chip fabrication plant. The cost of accessingsuch a plant is out-of-reach for most small and medium-sized Canadian electronics companies. In the proposedresearch, we focus on an alternate way of building computer chips: using a Field-Programmable Gate Array(FPGA). An FPGA is a pre-manufactured chip which can be configured, in seconds, to implement virtually anyelectronic circuit. Once configured, these devices can be included in electronic devices such as communicationequipment, computers, and consumer devices.The development of new architectures for FPGAs is a time-consuming process. Typically, FPGA architecturalenhancements are developed in a somewhat ad-hoc manner. Expert FPGA architects perform experiments inwhich benchmark circuits are mapped using representative computer-aided design (CAD) tools, and theresulting density, speed, and/or power are estimatedIn this project, we propose the development of an analytical model that describes the architecture of an FPGA.FPGA architects could then use this model to help develop new devices that are more efficient than currentparts. The model will consist of a set of equations that, taken together, model not only the fundamentalbehaviour of a programmable logic architecture, but also the important aspects of the corresponding CADalgorithms. In the second part of the project, we will use the model to investigate novel architectures that aremore efficient than current architectures.