Increasing computing power has been helping researchers understand many complex scientific problems. Scientific computing helps to model and visualize complex processes such as molecular modelling, medical imaging, astrophysics and space exploration by processing large set of data streams collected through sensors or cameras. This produces a massive amount of data which consume a large amount of processing and storage resources. Monitoring the data streams and filtering unwanted information will enable efficient use of the available resources. This thesis proposes a data-centric system that can monitor high-speed data streams in real-time. The proposed system provides a flexible environment where users can plug-in application-specific data monitoring algorithms. The Long Wavelength Array telescope (LWA) is an astronomical apparatus that works with high speed data streams, and the proposed data-centric platform is developed to evaluate FPGAs to implement data monitoring algorithms in LWA. The throughput of the data-centric system has been modeled and it is observed that the developed data-centric system can deliver a maximum throughput of 164 MB/s. / Master of Science

In current Field-Programmable-Logic Architecture (FPGA) design flows, it is very hard to control the routing of submodules. It is thus very hard to make an identical copy of an existing circuit within the same FPGA fabric. We have solved this problem in a way that still enables us to modify the logic function of the copied submodule. Our technique has important applications in the design of side-channel resistant implementations in FPGA. Starting from an existing single-ended design, we are able to create a complementary circuit. The resulting overall circuit strongly reduces the power-consumption-dependent information leaks. We will show all the necessary steps needed to implement secure circuits on a FPGA, from initial design stage all the way to verification of the level of security through laboratory measurements. We show that the direct mapping of a secure ASIC circuit-style in an FPGA does not preserve the same level of security, unless our symmetrical routing technique is employed. We demonstrate our approach on an FPGA prototype of a cryptographic design, and show through power-measurements followed by side-channel power analysis that secure logic implemented with our approach is resistant whereas non-routing-aware directly mapped circuit can be successfully attacked. / Master of Science

FPGAs can potentially deliver tremendous acceleration in high-performance server and embedded computing applications. Whether used to augment a processor or as a stand-alone device, these reconfigurable architectures are being deployed in a large number of implementations owing to the massive amounts of parallelism offered. At the same time, a significant challenge encountered in their wide-spread acceptance is the laborious efforts required in programming these devices. The increased development time, level of experience needed by the developers, lower turns per day and difficulty involved in faster iterations over designs affect the time-to-market for many solutions. High-level synthesis aims towards increasing the productivity of FPGAs and bringing them within the reach software developers and domain experts. OpenCL is a specification introduced for parallel programming purposes across platforms. Applications written in OpenCL consist of two parts - a host program for initialization and management, and kernels that define the compute intensive tasks. In this thesis, a compilation flow to generate customized application-specific hardware descriptions from OpenCL computation kernels is presented. The flow uses Xilinx AutoESL tool to obtain the design specification for compute cores. An architecture provided integrates the cores with memory and host interfaces. The host program in the application is compiled and executed to demonstrate a proof-of-concept implementation towards achieving an end-to-end flow that provides abstraction of hardware at the front-end. / Master of Science

Configurable computing machines (CCMs) are available as plug in cards for standard workstations. CCMs make it possible to achieve computing feats on workstations that were previously only possible with super computers. However, it is difficult to create applications for CCMs. The development environment is fragmented and complex. Compilers for CCMS are emerging but they are in their infancy and are inefficient. The difficulties of implementing run time reconfiguration (RTR) on CCMs are addressed in this thesis. Tools and techniques are introduced to simplify the development and synthesis of applications and partitions for RTR applications. A multiplexed memory port (MMP) is presented in JHDL and VHDL that simplifies the memory interface, eases the task of writing applications and creating partitions, and makes applications platform independent. The MMP is incorporated into an existing CCM compiler. It is shown that the MMP can increase the compiler's functionality and efficiency. / Master of Science

Modern FPGAs contain routing resources easily exceeding millions of wires. While mainstream design flows and place-and-route tools make very good use of these routing resources, they do so at the cost of very significant processing time. A well established alternative scheme is to modify or generate configuration bitstreams directly, resulting in more dynamic designs and shorter processing times. This thesis introduces a complete set of alternate wire databases for Xilinx Virtex, Virtex-E, and Virtex-II FPGAs, suitable for standalone use or as an addition to the JBits API. The databases can be used to route or trace through any device in these families, and can generate the necessary bitstream configurations with the help of JBits or an independent bitstream interface. / Master of Science

This thesis describes the implementation of a two-dimensional heat transfer simulation system using a Splash-2 Custom Computing Machine (CCM). This application was implemented as a proof of concept for utilizing CCMs in the simulation of physical systems. This paper discusses physical systems simulation and the need for discretizing the domain of such systems, along with the techniques used for mathematical simulation. Also discussed is the nature of CCMs, and why they are well suited to this application. A detailed description of the approach and implementation is included to full document the design, along with an analysis of the performance of the resulting system. / Master of Science

As hardware applications become increasingly complex, the supporting technology needs to evolve and adapt to the demands. Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Application Specific Integrated Circuit, General Purpose Processor, and System on Chip are the preferred devices for solving computational problems. Each of these platforms has its own specific advantages and disadvantages, which need to be accounted for during application development. Flexible radio communications has been dominated by Software Defined Radios. However, research in industry and universities has successfully developed run-time reconfiguration tools to make FPGA designs more flexible and thus vastly reducing configuration times. Developers now have a more powerful platform with dense Digital Signal Processor resources and the flexibility of SDR. Xilinx offers tools such as partial reconfiguration, which is a special modification of the standard tool-flow that supports configuration of the selected partial regions on an FPGA. The AgileHW project improves on the Xilinx tools resource allocation and routing scheme to increase the design agility and productivity. This thesis advances the AgileHW reconfigurable platform so developers can use the newer technology to build enhanced designs. / Master of Science

This thesis presents methodologies for the operation of a programming/documentation system for a Texas Instruments Model 530 programmable controller. The methodologies include: 1) a means to store information about the structure of a ladder diagram and display the ladder diagram on a CRT screen, 2) a means to convert the ladder diagram information into its equivalent Boolean code, and 3) a means to convert Boolean code into its equivalent ladder diagram information. / Master of Science

During the last decade, the wireless communications industry has grown rapidly. Driven by market demand, service providers are continuously looking for better systems. The main focus of continued research has been to increase the quality of services and system capacity. The Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular system had been proposed for use as a new standard for cellular telephone systems. A great deal of research has been conducted to develop receiver structures useful for CDMA systems. Traditional receivers such as the correlation and RAKE receivers are vulnerable to the near-far problem, i.e., the problem encountered when one received signal power is stronger than another. This problem is common in mobile environments. For single-user receivers, adaptive filtering techniques can be employed to alleviate multiple access interference and the near-far problem. In this thesis, an adaptive filter receiver is implemented on the FPGA-based configurable computing platform called GigaOps G900. By using FPGAs, designers can implement special-purpose signal processing architectures using specialized data paths, optimized sequencing, and pipelining while still providing some flexibility. This results in better overall system performance, resource utilization, and reduced power consumption. / Master of Science

Developing applications for distributed adaptive computing systems (ACS) requires developers to have knowledge of both parallel computing and configurable computing. Furthermore, portability and scalability are required for developers to use innovative ACS research directly in deployed systems. This thesis presents an Application Programming Interface (API) implementation developed in a scalable parallel ACS system. The API gives the developer the ability to easily control both single board and multi-board systems in a network cluster environment. The API implementation is highly portable and scalable, allowing ACS researchers to easily move from a research system to a deployed system. The thesis details the design and implementation of the API, as well as analyzes its performance. / Master of Science