FPGA particle graphics hardware

Particle graphics simulations are well suited for modeling phenomena such as water, cloth, explosions, fire, smoke, and clouds. They are normally realized in software, as part of an interactive graphics application. Their use in such applications is limited by the computational burden and resource competition they create. This thesis presents the design and implementation of a reconfigurable hardware particle graphics system for accelerating real-time particle graphics effects: The Particle Pipe. We explore the design process, implementation issues, limitations, challenges, and new possibilities of using FPGAs for the acceleration of real-time particle graphics. The Particle Pipe has been synthesized to an operating frequency of 130 MHz and has the potential for an increase in performance of two orders of magnitude over software methods and one order of magnitude over GPU methods