Abstraction Layer for Advanced Reconfigurable Computing

We propose to develop a methodology and set of related products that allow FPGA applications to be hardware independent (allowing easy migration to new FPGAs), facilitate easy upgrade to add new firmware functionality, and reduce regression testing after system upgrades. Our approach is based on a framework populated by a suite of solutions that support the "end-to-end" development of embedded systems that contain Reconfigurable Computing (RC) components. The innovations that this framework will offer include a formalized structured approach for the design and implementation of RC-Enabled systems (eliminating manual, ad-hoc development methods), support for Runtime Reconfiguration (RTR) activities (the dynamic modification of the functional configuration of the RC hardware), a unique approach for providing software control over the RC component configuration, a powerful solution for supporting communication between software executing on a general purpose processor and the RC functionality, and the transition of software fault-tolerance techniques to the RC component domain.