PROCStar III Performance Charactarization Instructor : Ina Rivkin Performed by: Idan Steinberg Evgeni Riaboy Semestrial Project Winter 2010

Agenda Project Overview Project Goals Progress Tests Overview Example exercise Timeline

Project Overview With the introduction of a new FPGA based board, we have to devise a series of tests to examine the devices max practical performance, allowing the students that use these boards for future projects, to plan optimal design based on the concluded tested performance. All the tests are intended to determine maximal frequency that ensure correct results (this is why we check all the data for correctness).

Gidel PROCstar III Stratix III 260E 4 Altera Stratix III 260E FPGA’s, with 256 MB on chip memory 8 Lane PCIe host interface 8 DDR2 Banks, with 2*2GB on first FPGA, and 1*2GB on the other FPGA’s ~2MB FPGA Internal RAM 255K Logic Elements (per FPGA)

The PROCStar III Processing Unit

Project Goals Testing Procstar III board for: Maximum frequency of reading/writing between the FPGA and Memory Banks Maximum communication speed between FPGA’s, both on their adjacent connection and on their shared BUS. Highest possible performance of the internal logic in Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide and sqrt configurations.

Progress Learning different tools for the FPGA environment Preparing several exercises implementing work with different memory configurations – in both FIFO and Multiport work between two separate FIFO’s on different DDR’s Counter unit (for performance measurement) Preparing a C code that interacts with the Proc board, to serve as a user interface Preparing a general example Preparing the required tests Concluding performance results

Project Plan Test 1: External Memories Transfer Rate: We will fill the memory with data (from the PCI), and test it by reading/writing the data between the memory and the FPGA, thus determining the transfer rate (between the FPGA and the Memory bank), both in Multi FIFO and Multi Port Configurations. We will Perform the test at different frequencies to determine the maximal frequency of data transfer between Memory bank and FPGA. Memory Bank Procstar III FPGA

Project Plan Test 1: Firstly, the data will be transferred from the PC to the Memory bank by a C code program The test will be performed at increasing frequencies, to determine maximal frequency Then, the data will be read by the FPGA from the memory bank and checked for correctness The measuring will be done by a counter unit on the FPGA, which sums the clock cycles during the test, which will start at the same time with the FPGA reading

Project Plan Tests 2,3: FPGA Communication: We will test the communication between the FPGA’s, both on their adjacent connection and their shared BUS.

Project Plan Test 2: FPGA Communication: We will build a state machine that creates 3-4 different outputs on one FPGA, transfer the data to an adjacent FPGA on their direct connection, and check the data correctness (running at increasing frequencies on the data channel). Procstar III FPGA 1 FPGA 2

Project Plan Test 2: FPGA Communication: To establish connection between two FPGA’s, we will use a basic protocol on the communication channel of the adjacent FPGA’s. It will be based on a simple control channel that indicates valid data on the shared channel between the FPGA’s. The test will be complied from creating several outputs on one FPGA, transferring it to the Adjacent FPGA and checking it (running at increasing frequencies on the data channel). The measuring will be done by a counter unit on the second FPGA, which will count the cycles from the beginning of data transfer till the end of it.

Project Plan Test 3: FPGA Communication: We will build a state machine that creates 3-4 different outputs on one FPGA, transfer the data to the other FPGA’s on their BUS connection, and check the data correctness. Procstar III FPGA 1 FPGA 2 FPGA 3 FPGA 4 BUS

Project Plan Test 3: FPGA Communication: This test will be executed the same way as test 2, only using different data and control channels (connecting all 4 FPGA units).

Project Plan Test 4: Internal Functions Testing: We will perform different mathematical operations: Add Subtract Multiply – both in LE and in DSP blocks Divide Sqrt For fixed point and floating point operations, determining the DSP and LE performance.

Project Plan Test 4: Internal Functions Testing: The testing will be performed by creating data from a state machine on the FPGA and performing the tested operation. The Add, Subtract, Divide and sqrt will be performed in VHDL code. The Multiply operation will be performed by the Altera library components in LE and DSP blocks. The counter unit will sum up the clock cycles from the beginning of the operation till its end. The tests will be performed at different frequencies, determining the maximal working frequency.

Project Plan Test 5: PC to Memories Transfer Rate: We will fill a memory bank with data from the PCI, and read it back, thus determining the transfer rate from the PC to the Memory bank on Proc Board. Then we will be able to compare the result with test 1, where we have tested the FPGA to memory transfer rate. PCIe Procstar III Stratix III PCIe Controller (DMA Mode) Memory Bank

An example exercise was prepared: An example with the usage of the required resources for the main project plan – taking data from the PCI, performing mathematical operation and writing it to a DDR: X2 DDR in Multi Port Memory PCIe

Example exercise:

We have measured the time it takes from the moment the data is being sent to the Proc board till it has been read on the PC. Transferring 10 buffers, each buffer of 128 bits, at frequency of main clock = 125 MHz

Example exercise: Transferring 1000 buffers, each buffer of 128 bits, at frequency of main clock = 125 MHz

Project Schedule אוגוסטיולייונימאיאפרילמרץ Learning Gidel Environment Charactarization Presentation Preparing Midterm example Midterm Presentation Test 1 Preparation Test 2 Preparation Test 3 Preparation Test 4 Preparation Test 5 Preparation Final Conclusions Final Presentation Exams