FPGA Overlays

Abstract

Developing applications that run on FPGAs is without doubt a very different experience from writing programs in software. Not only is the hardware design process fundamentally different from that of software development, software programmers also often find themselves constantly battling with the much lower design productivity in developing hardware designs. In this chapter, we explore how the concept of FPGA overlay may be able to alleviate some of these burdens. We will look at how by using an overlay architecture, designers are able to compile applications to FPGA hardware in merely seconds instead of hours. We will also look at how overlays are able to help with design portability, as well as to improve debugging capabilities of low-level designs. Finally, we will explore the challenges and opportunities for future research in this area.