FPGA-targeted high-level binding algorithm for power and area reduction with glitch-estimation

Abstract

Glitches (i.e. spurious signal transitions) are major sources of dynamic power consumption in modern FPGAs. In this paper, we present an FPGA-targeted, glitch-aware, high-level binding algorithm for power and area reduction, accomplished via dynamic power estimation and multiplexer balancing. Our binding algorithm employs a glitch-aware dynamic power estimation technique derived from the FPGA technology mapper in [6]. High-level binding results are converted to VHDL, and synthesized with Altera's Quartus II software, targeting the Cyclone II FPGA architecture. Power characteristics are evaluated with the Altera Power-Play Power Analyzer. The binding results of our algorithm are compared to LOPASS, a state-of-the-art low-power high-level synthesis algorithm for FPGAs. Experimental results show that our algorithm, on average, reduces toggle rate by 22% and area by 9%, resulting in a decrease in dynamic power consumption of 19%. To the best of our knowledge this is the first high-level binding algorithm targeting FP-GAs that considers glitch power.