Keynote 1 NoCs: It is about the memory and the programming model

CPUs are multicore (and multi-cache) supported by a coherent, global, shared memory model. FPGAs offer a vast number of distributed programmable function blocks and distributed memory blocks across distributed memory spaces. This presentation will discuss a hybrid computing architecture that unifies the development of applications for a combined CPU-FPGA platform. The proposed programming model is based on message passing (MPI) and distributed memory. NoCs are at the heart of the hybrid platform managing the control and data flows. NoCs are implemented through shared memory buffers on the CPU portion of the hybrid computing platform. On parallel hardware, NoCs are implemented as application-specific point-to-point networks exploiting the abundant routing and switching resources of the FPGA. NoCs enable application-specific memory models while keeping with standard, familiar programming models such as MPI.