From Design to Runtime: A Practical Approach to Reconfiguration

They have been around for a while: Devices combining multiple CPUs, GPUs, co-processors and FPGA fabric on a single chip or module. All these components need programming. And all these are reconfigurable: Their function can be altered in various ways at runtime. This presentation will explain how to do that in practical examples. Free yourself from the limits of the classic boot sequence where the bootloader configures the pins and programs the FPGA and drowns the system configuration in virtual concrete. In small steps, make your system adapt itself, allowing access to a broader range of applications while also reducing the maintenance on board and device support. This talk will focus on the tools and infrastructure available today to actually put this technology to work. We'll see practical applications of how we can use Linux' Devicetree support to make the system adapt itself at runtime and how one could deal with add-on boards.