Configuring Processors In The Field

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How late can something be deferred during the development process? With dynamically extensible processors, that may be while it's operating.

semiengineering.com, Jun. 08, 2020 – 

The convergence of two technologies, extensible processors and embedded FPGAs, is enabling the creation of processors that can be dynamically configured in the field. But it's not clear if there is a need for them or how difficult would it be to program them. This remains an open question even though there is evidence of its usefulness in the past and new products are expected to reach the market soon.

Processor extensibility has been around for a long time, although interest has increased due to the open-source RISC-V core and the growing ecosystem that surrounds it. [See related article.]

The second technology seeing increased adoption is the embedding of FPGA resources into SoCs. Chips with a programmable fabric are not new, and many FPGA chips have embedded processors in them. Several soft-core processors have been defined that can be mapped into these programmable fabrics and these still see application today.

Using accelerators with processors is a common way to extend performance. These are designed to offload heavy computation from the processor, often utilizing an optimized piece of hardware for that function. Often it is accessed via the system bus or special purpose interface built into the processor.

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