The density advantage of configurable computing
DeHon, A.
Computer
Volume 33, Issue 4, Apr 2000 Page(s):41 - 49
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/2.839320
Summary:More and more, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are
accelerating computing applications. The absolute performance achieved
by these configurable machines has been impressive-often one to two
orders of magnitude greater than processor-based alternatives.
Configurable computing is one of the fastest, most economical ways to
solve problems such as RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adelman) decryption, DNA
sequence matching, signal processing, emulation, and cryptographic
attacks. But questions remain as to why FPGAs have been so much more
successful than their microprocessor and DSP counterparts. Do FPGA
architectures have inherent advantages? Or are these examples just
flukes of technology and market pricing? Will advantages increase,
decrease, or remain the same as technology advances? Is there some
generalization that accounts for the advantages in these cases? The
author attempts to answer these questions and to see how configurable
computing fits into the arsenal of structures used to build general,
programmable computing platforms
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