---
_id: '2263'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'In this paper, we introduce the Woolcano reconfigurable processor architecture.
    The architecture is based on the Xilinx Virtex-4 FX FPGA and leverages the Auxiliary
    Processing Unit (APU) as well as the partial reconfiguration capabilities to provide
    dynamically reconfigurable custom instructions. We also present a hardware tool
    flow that automatically translates software functions into custom instructions
    and a software tool flow that creates binaries using these instructions. While
    previous research on processors with reconfigurable functional units has been
    performed predominantly with simulation, the Woolcano architecture allows for
    exploring dynamic instruction set extension with commercially available hardware.
    Finally, we present a case study demonstrating a custom floating-point instruction
    generated with our approach, which achieves a 40x speedup over software-emulated
    floating-point operations and a 21% speedup over the Xilinx hardware floating-point
    unit. '
author:
- first_name: Mariusz
  full_name: Grad, Mariusz
  last_name: Grad
- first_name: Christian
  full_name: Plessl, Christian
  id: '16153'
  last_name: Plessl
  orcid: 0000-0001-5728-9982
citation:
  ama: 'Grad M, Plessl C. Woolcano: An Architecture and Tool Flow for Dynamic Instruction
    Set Extension on Xilinx Virtex-4 FX. In: <i>Proc. Int. Conf. on Engineering of
    Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms (ERSA)</i>. CSREA Press; 2009:319-322.'
  apa: 'Grad, M., &#38; Plessl, C. (2009). Woolcano: An Architecture and Tool Flow
    for Dynamic Instruction Set Extension on Xilinx Virtex-4 FX. <i>Proc. Int. Conf.
    on Engineering of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms (ERSA)</i>, 319–322.'
  bibtex: '@inproceedings{Grad_Plessl_2009, place={USA}, title={Woolcano: An Architecture
    and Tool Flow for Dynamic Instruction Set Extension on Xilinx Virtex-4 FX}, booktitle={Proc.
    Int. Conf. on Engineering of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms (ERSA)}, publisher={CSREA
    Press}, author={Grad, Mariusz and Plessl, Christian}, year={2009}, pages={319–322}
    }'
  chicago: 'Grad, Mariusz, and Christian Plessl. “Woolcano: An Architecture and Tool
    Flow for Dynamic Instruction Set Extension on Xilinx Virtex-4 FX.” In <i>Proc.
    Int. Conf. on Engineering of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms (ERSA)</i>,
    319–22. USA: CSREA Press, 2009.'
  ieee: 'M. Grad and C. Plessl, “Woolcano: An Architecture and Tool Flow for Dynamic
    Instruction Set Extension on Xilinx Virtex-4 FX,” in <i>Proc. Int. Conf. on Engineering
    of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms (ERSA)</i>, 2009, pp. 319–322.'
  mla: 'Grad, Mariusz, and Christian Plessl. “Woolcano: An Architecture and Tool Flow
    for Dynamic Instruction Set Extension on Xilinx Virtex-4 FX.” <i>Proc. Int. Conf.
    on Engineering of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms (ERSA)</i>, CSREA Press,
    2009, pp. 319–22.'
  short: 'M. Grad, C. Plessl, in: Proc. Int. Conf. on Engineering of Reconfigurable
    Systems and Algorithms (ERSA), CSREA Press, USA, 2009, pp. 319–322.'
date_created: 2018-04-06T15:19:51Z
date_updated: 2023-09-26T13:53:30Z
department:
- _id: '27'
- _id: '518'
- _id: '78'
language:
- iso: eng
page: 319-322
place: USA
publication: Proc. Int. Conf. on Engineering of Reconfigurable Systems and Algorithms
  (ERSA)
publication_identifier:
  isbn:
  - 1-60132-101-5
publisher: CSREA Press
quality_controlled: '1'
status: public
title: 'Woolcano: An Architecture and Tool Flow for Dynamic Instruction Set Extension
  on Xilinx Virtex-4 FX'
type: conference
user_id: '15278'
year: '2009'
...