Context switching in a run-time reconfigurable system

The reprogrammable nature of configurable computing machines has led to a wealth of research in run-time reconfigurable systems and applications. A limitation often encoun-tered in this research is the slow configuration time with respect to the system clock speed. One technique to deal with these configuration delays has been to develop devices that can hold multiple rapidly interchangeable configurations. This technique is known as context-switching. This thesis discusses the development of a framework to support applications which execute on a run-time reconfigurable system containing context-switching devices. The framework is divided into a number of layers: hardware, middleware, software, and applications. The design, implementation, and details of each layer are presented. Dedication To my parents and teachers. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my graduate advisor, Dr. Peter M. Athanas, and the rest of m