Analysis of a reconfigurable network processor

In this paper an analysis of a dynamically reconfigurable processor is presented. The network processor incorporates a processor and a number of coprocessors that can be connected to the processor either directly or using a shared bus. The analysis investigates the configuration (in terms of co-processor distributions and interface), formulates the throughput that meets the network demands and the constraints of the platform (area, bus bandwidth, etc.) and takes into account the reconfiguration overhead. To find the configuration that meets the constraints, the platform is formulated into integer linear programming equations. Furthermore, the results of two case studies are presented, for a soft- and a hard-IP core processor, that uses three flows with different processing requirements (IP forward, encryption and media processing). In each case the number and the type of co-processors is shown in terms of the network distribution and the average packet size. Finally, the mapping of the framework in the Xilinx FPGA platform is discussed