Warp Processing – Dramatically Speeding up Programs by Dynamically Moving them to FPGAs

In the amazing new world of billion-transistor chips, computers can
achieve a form of self-improvement scarcely imagined before.
Since 2002, UCR researchers have been developing a technology,
known as “Warp Processing,” in which the execution of a program on
a microprocessor is automatically replaced by execution on an FPGA,
using a coprocessor circuit custom-designed on-the-fly for the
program’s specific needs, sometimes resulting in transparent performance
improvement, or “warping.” That improvement isn’t just 20% or 30%,
but is often 10x, 100x, or even 1000x. This talk will provide brief
background on FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) and on partitioning
programs among microprocessors and FPGAs, present the basics of warp
processing (“dynamic” partitioning), discuss its key underlying
technologies, highlight results showing huge speedups even compared to
a hypothetical 32-core machine, and discuss ongoing research.

During his visit to Microsoft, Prof. Vahid would also be interested in
talking with Microsoft researchers interested in a different technology
developed at UCR since the early 2000s and nearing commercialization.
“eBlocks” are matchbox-sized electronic blocks comprised of sensor blocks
(motion, light, sound, buttons, etc.) that output yes, no, or a number,
and compute blocks (combine, opposite, prolong, trip, add/subtract, compare,
etc.) that all can be connected like “Lego” blocks to form customized
sensing systems. Among other uses, such systems can be plugged into a
PC or home monitoring system to enable remote monitoring of aging
parents, kids, or others, either manually via the web or cell phone,
or via automated programs that detect anomalies and follow up with text
messages or phone calls.

Speaker Details

Frank Vahid is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, Riverside; Chair of the Faculty of Engineering at UCR; and Associate Director of the Center for Embedded Computer Systems at UC Irvine. He received a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1988, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Irvine in 1990 and 1994, where he was an SRC Fellow. Since 1990, he has co-authored over 130 conference and journal papers, including the best paper award from IEEE transactions on VLSI in 2000. He is co-author of the textbooks “Digital Design,” “VHDL for Digital Design,” “Verilog for Digital Design,” and “Embedded System Design” (John Wiley and Sons 2006, 2007, 2007, and 2001, respectively), of “Specification and Design of Embedded Systems (Prentice Hall, 1994), and the upcoming “Programming of Embedded Systems” textbook. He has been actively involved in organizing Embedded Systems Week (esweek.org) since its 1990s roots. He is the recipient of several UCR teaching awards. He has worked or consulted for companies including HP, AMCC, Motorola, and NEC. He holds two U.S. patents. His research emphasizes highly novel self-adapting compute architectures, and creating a generation of electronic sensor blocks that non-experts and experts alike can easily compose to build basic useful sensor-based systems. His teaching emphasis includes defining a new discipline of embedded systems programming and design, and seeking to motivate students to build innovative new systems that improve the human condition.

Date:
Speakers:
Frank Vahid
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside