Frequently Asked Questions
Download Arrix FPOA Overview
4 Page FPOA overview that includes: architecture information, algorithm support, development system, design flow and target applications.
3. What is the difference between other reconfigurable platforms (such as XPP, Picochip, Stretch), and MathStar's FPOA?
Besides FPGAs as the fine-grain reconfigurable platform, other types of reconfigurable computing platforms take two forms: processor-centric clusters and medium-grained processing element arrays. FPOAs are characterized as the latter.
Processor-centric clusters, such as those that Stretch employs, use some kind of RISC core along with application-specific logic blocks, which may or may not be reconfigurable. The performance is generally low, but it is relatively programmer-friendly. As the number of processors increase, the programmer-friendliness decreases as it approaches a highly parallel processor system. In addition, because of the potential irregular size, and interconnection ability, customizing a device or building additional devices may be considered to be a complete redesign. Ultimately, it is time consuming and expensive.
Medium-grain reconfigurable platforms seem to be more popular (e.g., XPP, Elixent (acquired by Panavision), or Picochip). However, most of them don't take into consideration the tradeoffs of their design process and consequently, achieving high performance is as difficult as it is with its processor counterparts. Most of these companies approach the implementation with an ASIC design flow and as a result, their operating frequency is generally less than 300 MHz. However, depending on the application domain, this performance level may be adequate.
MathStar's unique FPOA architecture enables 1 Gigahertz performance on a 130 nm process. Because the architecture scales, maximum frequencies on future products will be much higher. Download Arrix FPOA Architecture Guide
