FPGA-Targeted High-Level Binding Algorithm for Power and Area Reduction with Glitch-Estimation

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 PowerPlay 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 FPGAs that considers glitch power.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe