A Reconfigurable Load Balancing Architecture for Molecular Dynamics

This paper proposes a novel architecture supporting dynamic load balancing on an FPGA for a molecular dynamics algorithm. Load balancing is primarily achieved through the use of specialized processing units, referred to as FLEX units. FLEX units are able to switch between tasks required by a molecular dynamics algorithm as often as needed in order to cater to the nature of the input parameters. This architecture is capable of run-time performance analysis and dynamic resource allocation in order to maximize throughput. Results of a prototype of the architecture targeting an FPGA are presented.