A core-based design method for reconfigurable computing applications

A core-based design method for reconfigurable computing applications is presented. It is argued that reconfigurable computing can be considered as adding hardware cores to the instruction set of a general purpose microprocessor, but the number, type and internal structure of the cores can vary during application run-time. Two new core types are identified: routed cores are cores whose routing is fixed, and reconfigurable cores are cores whose internal structure can vary during run-time. The tools and techniques required to support the method are presented, which are a combination of general purpose programming languages and tools to open configuration data streams. A design example is described.