An overview of a compiler for mapping MATLAB programs onto FPGAs

This paper describes a behavioral synthesis tool called the MATCH compiler developed as part of the DARPA Adaptive Computing Systems program. The MATCH compiler reads in high-level descriptions of DSP applications written in MATLAB, and automatically generates synthesizable RTL models in VHDL. The RTL models can be synthesized using commercial logic synthesis tools and place and route tools onto FPGAs. By linking the two design domains of DSP and FPGA hardware design, the MATCH compiler provides DSP design teams a significant reduction in design labor and time, elimination of misinterpretations and costly design rework, automatic verification of the hardware implementation, and the ability of systems engineers an algorithm developers to perform architectural exploration in the early phases of their development cycle. The paper describes how powerful directives are used to provide high-level architectural tradeoffs for the DSP designer. The MATCH compiler has been transferred to a startup company called AccelChip which has developed a commercial version of the compiler called AccelFPGA. Experimental results are reported using AccelFPGA on a set of nine MATLAB benchmarks that are mapped onto the recent Xilinx Virtex II and Altera Stratix FPGAs. The benchmark programs range in complexity from 20 lines to 170 lines of MATLAB code and produce VHDL code ranging from 1500 to 4500 lines of code. The compilation times range from 3 seconds to 40 seconds.