Virtualization Architecture for NoC-based Reconfigurable Systems

Abstract: We propose a virtualization architecture for NoC-based reconfigurable systems. The motivation of this work is to develop a service-oriented architecture that includes Partial Reconfigurable Region as a Service (PRRaaS) and Processing Element as a Service (PEaaS) for software applications. According to the requirements of software applications, new PEs can be created on-demand by (re)configuring the logic resource of the PRRs in the FPGA, while the configured PEs can also be virtualized to support multiple application tasks at the same time. As a result, such a two-level virtualization mechanism, including the gate-level virtualization and the PE-level virtualization, enables an SoC to be dynamically adapted to changing application requirements. Therefore, more software applications can be performed, and system performance can be further enhanced.