Reconfigurable logic for systems on a chip

Summary form only given. The electronic systems of the future will be implemented in terms of multi-million gate “systems on a chip”. These systems will require an enormous investment in design and manufacturing; yet the pace of technological change (e.g., new algorithm development, new processor and memory designs) and ever changing requirements puts them in danger of obsolescence soon after they are created-applications always want to take advantage of new technical advances and must meet changed requirements. What is needed are single chip systems that are designed to be adaptable to a family of applications. The emerging technology of configurable logic offers the promise of large-scale silicon systems that are adaptive after manufacture, with little or no sacrifice in execution efficiency compared to hard-wired systems. But the application of configurable logic to single chip systems requires a radical rethinking of the approach, with new architectures and design tools to address the issues of complexity and scale. No longer will configurable logic systems consist entirely or even significantly (in terms of silicon area) of FPGAs. Instead, adaptive single chip systems must be designed with just the right amount of configurable logic in just the right places