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Reusability is FIRRTL ground: hardware construction languages, compiler frameworks, and transformations

Authors:

Adam Izraelevitz,

Jonathan BachrachAuthors Info & Claims

ICCAD '17: Proceedings of the 36th International Conference on Computer-Aided Design

Pages 209 - 216

Published: 13 November 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Enabled by modern languages and retargetable compilers, software development is in a virtual "Cambrian explosion" driven by a critical mass of powerfully parameterized libraries; but hardware development practices lag far behind. We hypothesize that existing hardware construction languages (HCLs) and novel hardware compiler frameworks (HCFs) can put hardware development on a similar evolutionary path by enabling new hardware libraries to be independent of underlying process technologies including FPGA mappings. We support this claim by (1) evaluating the degree with which Chisel, an existing HCL, can support powerfully parameterized libraries, and (2) introducing the concept and implementation of an HCF that uses an open-source hardware intermediate representation, FIRRTL (Flexible Intermediate Representation for RTL), to transform target-independent RTL into technology-specific RTL. Finally, we evaluate many hardware compiler transformations, including simplifying transformations, analyses, optimizations, instrumentations, and specializations, which demonstrate the power of a combined HCL and HCF approach.

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Cited By

Leidel JConlon FPalumbo FBecchi MSchulz MSato K(2019)Toward a graph-based dependence analysis framework for high level design verificationProceedings of the 16th ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers10.1145/3310273.3323433(308-316)Online publication date: 30-Apr-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3310273.3323433
Lin RRamesh RIannopollo ASangiovanni Vincentelli ADutta PAlon EHartmann BBrewster SFitzpatrick GCox AKostakos V(2019)Beyond Schematic CaptureProceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300513(1-13)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300513
Biancolin DKarandikar SKim DKoenig JWaterman ABachrach JAsanovic KBazargan KNeuendorffer S(2019)FASEDProceedings of the 2019 ACM/SIGDA International Symposium on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays10.1145/3289602.3293894(330-339)Online publication date: 20-Feb-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3289602.3293894
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cover image ACM Conferences

ICCAD '17: Proceedings of the 36th International Conference on Computer-Aided Design

November 2017

1077 pages

Conference Chair:
Sri Parameswaran
GENERAL CHAIR

Sponsors

CEDA: Council on Electronic Design Automation
SIGDA: ACM Special Interest Group on Design Automation
IEEE-CAS: Circuits & Systems

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IEEE-EDS: Electronic Devices Society

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IEEE Press

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Published: 13 November 2017

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CEDA
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ICCAD '17: IEEE/ACM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN

November 13 - 16, 2017

California, Irvine

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Cited By

Leidel JConlon FPalumbo FBecchi MSchulz MSato K(2019)Toward a graph-based dependence analysis framework for high level design verificationProceedings of the 16th ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers10.1145/3310273.3323433(308-316)Online publication date: 30-Apr-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3310273.3323433
Lin RRamesh RIannopollo ASangiovanni Vincentelli ADutta PAlon EHartmann BBrewster SFitzpatrick GCox AKostakos V(2019)Beyond Schematic CaptureProceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300513(1-13)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300513
Biancolin DKarandikar SKim DKoenig JWaterman ABachrach JAsanovic KBazargan KNeuendorffer S(2019)FASEDProceedings of the 2019 ACM/SIGDA International Symposium on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays10.1145/3289602.3293894(330-339)Online publication date: 20-Feb-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3289602.3293894
Wang ARigge PIzraelevitz AMarkley CBachrach JNikolić B(2018)ACEDProceedings of the 55th Annual Design Automation Conference10.1145/3195970.3195981(1-6)Online publication date: 24-Jun-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3195970.3195981

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