Multiprocessing on FPGA using light weight processor

Multiprocessors have been widely used in modern high performance embedded system to meet the computational needs of smart, real time applications spread across multiple domains. While custom IPs (Intellectual Property) on FPGA based systems are commonly used, multiprocessing on FPGAs have not been explored enough due to concerns about meeting a right trade-off between area usage, achievable performance, and the required design time. This paper presents an implementation of a multiprocessing system on FPGA using multiple light weight soft processors (LWP) that work in conjunction with a custom hardware to achieve balanced performance to resource ratio. As an example we have implemented a TDEA (Triple Data Encryption Algorithm) cryptographic algorithm on our multiprocessing system that uses 2.5X less area, is 40% faster in performance, and requires 20% less power as compared to equivalent solution implemented using a commercial soft processor.