Accelerator-rich architectures: Implications, opportunities and challenges

Providing high performance at ultra-low power for a domain of applications is possible by designing and integrating accelerators. Accelerators may be fixed-function, programmable or re-configurable in nature. Integration of many such accelerators in a system-on-chip (SoC) or chip-multiprocessor (CMP) introduces several major implications on architecture, power/performance and programmability. In this paper, we will provide an overview of the key challenges and outline research opportunities and challenges for accelerator-rich architectures and devices. We will also describe example solutions in some of these areas as a potential direction for further exploration.