PCI-PipeRench and the SWORDAPI: a system for stream-based reconfigurable computing

Reconfigurable hardware accelerators have been shown to be flexible and efficient in stream-based applications. In this paper, we discuss the design of PCI-PipeRench and the SWORDAPI. PCI-PipeRench is a coprocessor utilizing the PipeRench architecture which includes on-chip control and data buffering to interface with a host processor over a PCI bus. SWORDAPI calls resemble standard C file control functions, and allow developers to create applications Independent of underlying reconfigurable hardware details. In addition, the SWORDAPI provides a cosimulation environment so that verification can be performed using unmodified application source with a hardware simulator. Efficient utilization of the bus is of critical importance in the design of such a system; various methods used to address this issue are presented.