Hardware DLL

Hardware DLL - Real Time Partial Reconfiguration Management of FPGA by OS.

End users copy the generated HWAs and the cross-compiled applications to an SD card along with the Hardware DLL boot files, insert the SD card into the board, and power it on. Once the FPGA is initialized and PetaLinux is booted, end users can instantiate processes by executing the copied applications. When a process requests the FPGA management system to service targeted functions, it checks for available RPs and assigns them to those functions whose HWA has a matching RM. These RMs are loaded into their respective RPs and service the targeted functions that they are associated with. When a process terminates its accelerated functions, it requests the FPGA management system to remove their HWAs and free the RPs. End users are unaware of any system changes, only of the increased application performance.