Xilinx joins reconfigurable systems programme

Xilinx has joined IMEC's new industrial affiliation programme (IIAP) that focuses on technology for reconfigurable systems.

Xilinx has joined IMEC's new industrial affiliation programme (IIAP) that focuses on technology for reconfigurable systems.

Xilinx, the leader in complete programmable logic solutions, is the first organisation to join the IIAP.

Through this programme, IMEC will be applying its expertise in design technology for reconfigurable computing platforms to Xilinx FPGAs.

Over the last three years, IMEC has built up extensive expertise in design technology for embedded computing platforms containing instruction set processors in combination with reconfigurable hardware.

The mission of the reconfigurable systems IIAP is to build design technology that enables the programming of heterogeneous reconfigurable platforms with the same ease of use as current technology allows for general-purpose processors.

Key activities include the development of an operating system that enables true hardware/software multitasking and the integration of interconnect networks on silicon for task-level reconfiguration in reconfigurable hardware.

Within this programme, IMEC and Xilinx Research Labs will collaborate in developing a programming environment for reconfigurable systems based on the Virtex-II Pro devices as well as future devices.

This programming infrastructure will provide support for seamless hardware/software multitasking in future reconfigurable computing platforms.

The partial and dynamic reconfiguration capabilities of Xilinx FPGAs will be exploited in full to realise these new capabilities.

"We are very pleased that only three months after the launch of our reconfigurable computing programme, Xilinx has joined us as the first member.

This proves the market potential of reconfigurable platforms and demonstrates the industrial interest in developing an ease-of-use design technology for the programming of heterogeneous reconfigurable platforms", said Dr Rudy Lauwereins, vice president of IMEC's division on design technology for integrated information and communications systems.

A first demonstrator in this context based on the Virtex-II series has already been showcased at the Design Automation Conference (DAC) in June 2002.

It is a portable multimedia device based on a reconfigurable platform that is able to run computationally intensive applications and currently features a video decoder and a 3D game.

"Xilinx Research Labs is pleased to become the first research sponsor of IMEC's new industrial affiliation programme (IIAP) for reconfigurable systems technology.

In keeping with its policy of partnering with leading centres of competence around the world, Xilinx Research Labs is looking forward to demonstrating the capabilities of hardware/software multitasking in high-performance embedded systems using the Virtex II Pro FPGA family", says Patrick Lysaght, senior director of Design Technology at Xilinx Research Labs.

"IMEC's research into developing a software look-and-feel for the programming of heterogeneous reconfigurable platforms could be of great value in reducing the complexity of designing with such systems and significantly broadening access to the technology".

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