FPGA design space exploration for scientific HPC applications using a fast and accurate cost model based on roofline analysis

Nabi, S. W. and Vanderbauwhede, W. (2019) FPGA design space exploration for scientific HPC applications using a fast and accurate cost model based on roofline analysis. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 133, pp. 407-419. (doi: 10.1016/j.jpdc.2017.05.014)

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Abstract

High-performance computing on heterogeneous platforms in general and those with FPGAs in particular presents a significant programming challenge. We contend that compiler technology has to evolve to automatically optimized applications by transforming a given original program. We are developing a novel methodology based on type transformations on a functional description of a given scientific kernel, for generating correct-by-construction design variants. An associated lightweight costing mechanism for evaluating these variants is a cornerstone of our methodology, and the focus of this paper. We discuss our use of the roofline model to work with our optimizing compiler to enable us to quickly derive accurate estimates of performance from the design’s representation in our custom intermediate language. We show results confirming the accuracy of our cost model by validating it on different scientific kernels. A case study is presented to demonstrate that a solution created from our optimizing framework outperforms commercial high-level synthesis tools both in terms of throughput and power efficiency.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Vanderbauwhede, Professor Wim and Nabi, Dr Syed Waqar
Authors: Nabi, S. W., and Vanderbauwhede, W.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
Journal Name:Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0743-7315
ISSN (Online):1096-0848
Published Online:30 May 2017
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2017 The Authors
First Published:First published in Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing 133:407-419
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
614451Exploiting Parallelism through Type Transformations for Hybrid Manycore Systems.Wim VanderbauwhedeEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/L00058X/1COM - COMPUTING SCIENCE