DRC 2 : Dynamically Reconfigurable Computing Circuit based on Memory Architecture

Kaya Can Akyel (1) , Henri-Pierre Charles (1) , Julien Mottin (1) , Bastien Giraud (1) , Suraci Grégory (1) , Sebastien Thuries (1) , Jean-Philippe Noel (1)

1 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information

This paper presents a novel energy-efficient and Dynamically Reconfigurable Computing Circuit (DRC²) concept based on memory architecture for data-intensive (imaging, …) and secure (cryptography, …) applications. The proposed computing circuit is based on a 10-Transistor (10T) 3-Port SRAM bitcell array driven by a peripheral circuitry enabling all basic operations that can be traditionally performed by an ALU. As a result, logic and arithmetic operations can be entirely executed within the memory unit leading to a significant reduction in power consumption related to the data transfer between memories and computing units. Moreover, the proposed computing circuit can perform extremely-parallel operations enabling the processing of large volume of data. A test case based on image processing application and using the saturating increment function is analytically modeled to compare conventional and DRC²-based approaches. It is demonstrated that DRC²-based approach provides a reduction of clock cycle number of up to 2x. Finally, potential applications and must-be-considered changes at different design levels are discussed.

Keywords: in-memory computing; computing architecture; programmable logic

Domains: Computer Science [cs]; Embedded Systems

Kaya Can Akyel, Henri-Pierre Charles, Julien Mottin, Bastien Giraud, Suraci Grégory, et al.. DRC 2 : Dynamically Reconfigurable Computing Circuit based on Memory Architecture. IEEE International Conference on Rebooting Computing, Oct 2016, San Diego, France. ⟨cea-01376554⟩