Abstract
In this paper, we present and evaluate an FPGA acceleration fabric that uses VLIW softcores as processing elements, combined with a memory hierarchy that is designed to stream data between intermediate stages of an image processing pipeline. These pipelines are commonplace in medical applications such as X-ray imagers. By using a streaming memory hierarchy, performance is increased by a factor that depends on the number of stages (\(7.5\times \) when using 4 consecutive filters). Using a Xilinx VC707 board, we are able to place up to 75 cores. A platform of 64 cores can be routed at 193 MHz, achieving real-time performance, while keeping 20% resources available for off-board interfacing.
Our VHDL implementation and associated tools (compiler, simulator, etc.) are available for download for the academic community.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Hoozemans, J., Wong, S., Al-Ars, Z.: Using VLIW softcore processors for image processing applications. In: 2015 International Conference on Embedded Computer Systems: Architectures, Modeling, and Simulation (SAMOS), pp. 315–318. IEEE (2015)
Stevens, D., Chouliaras, V., Azorin-Peris, V., Zheng, J., Echiadis, A., Hu, S.: BioThreads: a novel VLIW-based chip multiprocessor for accelerating biomedical image processing applications. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Circuits Syst. 6(3), 257–268 (2012)
Nowatzki, T., Gangadhan, V., Sankaralingam, K., Wright, G.: Pushing the limits of accelerator efficiency while retaining programmability. In: 2016 IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA), pp. 27–39. IEEE (2016)
Putnam, A., Caulfield, A.M., Chung, E.S., Chiou, D., Constantinides, K., Demme, J., Esmaeilzadeh, H., Fowers, J., Gopal, G.P., Gray, J., et al.: A reconfigurable fabric for accelerating large-scale datacenter services. IEEE Micro 35(3), 10–22 (2015)
Ovtcharov, K., Ruwase, O., Kim, J.-Y., Fowers, J., Strauss, K., Chung, E.S.: Accelerating deep convolutional neural networks using specialized hardware. Microsoft Research Whitepaper, vol. 2 (2015)
Russo, L.M., Pedrino, E.C., Kato, E., Roda, V.O.: Image convolution processing: a GPU versus FPGA comparison. In: 2012 VIII Southern Conference on Programmable Logic, pp. 1–6, March 2012
Wang, P., McAllister, J., Wu, Y.: Soft-core stream processing on FPGA: an FFT case study. In: 2013 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, pp. 2756–2760, May 2013
Wang, P., McAllister, J.: Streaming elements for FPGA signal and image processing accelerators. IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. (VLSI) Syst. 24, 2262–2274 (2016)
Bardak, B., Siddiqui, F.M., Kelly, C., Woods, R.: Dataflow toolset for soft-core processors on FPGA for image processing applications. In: 2014 48th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, pp. 1445–1449, November 2014
Wong, S., Anjam, F.: The Delft reconfigurable VLIW processor. In: Proceedings of 17th International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communications, (Bangalore, India), pp. 244–251, December 2009
Fisher, J.A., Faraboschi, P., Young, C.: Embedded Computing: A VLIW Approach to Architecture, Compilers, and Tools. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, San Francisco (2005). 500 Sansome Street, Suite 400, 94111
Acknowledgment
This research is supported by the ARTEMIS joint undertaking under grant agreement No. 621439 (ALMARVI).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hoozemans, J., Heij, R., van Straten, J., Al-Ars, Z. (2017). VLIW-Based FPGA Computation Fabric with Streaming Memory Hierarchy for Medical Imaging Applications. In: Wong, S., Beck, A., Bertels, K., Carro, L. (eds) Applied Reconfigurable Computing. ARC 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10216. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56258-2_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56258-2_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56257-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56258-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)