A Framework for Energy Efficient Design of Multi-rate Applications Using Hybrid Reconfigurable Systems

Hybrid reconfigurable systems integrate DSPs and general purpose processors with an FPGA fabric. These systems may support features such as efficient start-up and shut-down, dynamic voltage scaling, and reconfiguration, that are exploited for energy-efficient application design. Duty cycle is the proportion of time during which a system is operated. Multi-rate applications consist of tasks that execute at different rates. Designing an energy-efficient hybrid reconfigurable system with duty cycle specification that implements a multi-rate application using devices with multiple operating states presents several challenges such as modeling, rapid performance estimation, and efficient design space exploration. We present a design framework that addresses these challenges. Using our framework, we illustrate the design of two energy efficient systems: automated target detection and adaptive beamforming.