Distributing C# methods and threads over Ethernet-connected FPGAs using Kiwi

• Published in: 2011 9th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Formal Methods and Models for Codesign pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Greaves, D., Singh, S.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.07.2011
• Subjects: Field programmable gate arrays; Hardware; Instruction sets; Local area networks; Reliability; Servers; Workstations
• ISBN: 9781457701177; 1457701170
• DOI: 10.1109/MEMCOD.2011.5970505

The Kiwi system achieves co-design by allowing nominated regions of C# programs to be targeted at FPGAs while the remainder executes on unmodified .NET and Mono virtual machines. Using C# attributes, certain methods are identified for separate compilation and collections of methods are mapped to multiple FPGAs or to workstations connected to a common Ethernet switch. Individual methods become RPC-callable entities for the top-level C# thread running on one workstation, while server threads may run continually on other workstations or FPGAs. We illustrate the concept using minimal modifications to an Adobe Photoshop plug-in where the processing for each colour channel is farmed over the Ethernet to one or three remote entities which may each be either an FPGA or a workstation.