Practical experiences with the SPARXIL co-processor

This paper examines the use of compact FPGA-based configurable processors as an alternative to ever-higher powered general purpose CPUs. It describes sample applications in which even a very simple configurable processor outperforms all but very fast general purpose CPUs. Performance data is given for DES encryption, labeling objects in black-and-white images, and LZW decompression. In particular, the design of the labeling co-processor is presented.