Comparative Review of Common Reconfigurable Architectures

Abstract

Some may claim that general-purpose computers are reconfigurable in the sense that functional units are reused for different computational tasks at different times, with multiplexers controlling the routing between these units. However, in this paper as well as in the research community at large, the term reconfigurable computing refers to systems where the hardware can be customized and changed periodically to execute different tasks on the same hardware. In this paper we survey the reconfigurable computing landscape and make some recommendations. The landscape can be partitioned into two parts – one that is spearheaded by University research and the other that is taking shape in the industry. We describe one example from each, and provide a comparison of some reconfigurable architectures. We conclude by making some recommendations about the architectures, software tools, and applications of reconfigurable computing.