Configuration technique for adaptability of multicore processors on FPGA

To reach the efficient use of FPGA resources, we have developed a configuration environment for adapting a soft processor to a specific application program automatically. In our approach, an application program is analyzed and only components/forwarding paths which the instruction sequences in the program actually use are selected to build a customized soft processor in a minimum size. In this paper, we show, first, the processor core we designed as the base of configurable processors. Then, the functions of the configurator and how the configurator works are described. In the evaluation of the processors which are generated using this environment, a configured eight-core processor can be implemented in a relatively small FPGA device, while a two-core processor without configuration uses up the FPGA resources.