On distributed reconfigurable systems: open problems and some initial solutions

By "distributed reconfigurable systems" we mean systems of distributed resources, which include dynamically reconfigurable FPGA components. There already exist systems such as wearable computers with distributed reconfigurable resources, but the broader area is rather unexplored. Reconfigurable distributed systems have some unique characteristics or desired behavior, which merit further study. To illustrate, any attempt for a full implementation of TCP/IP in hardware leads to prohibitively expensive solutions for low-cost sensor networks. Therefore, lighter protocols are needed. However, whereas data exchange can be effectively done through unreliable communication channels, reconfiguration assumes that a reliable data stream has to be provided for purposes of reconfiguration. Whereas a bit error rate (BER) due to noise, etc. can pose no problem in data communication, it would effectively lead to inability to reconfigure just about any present day reconfigurable device, unless accounted for at the protocol level. And yet we just dismissed TCP/IP as a protocol, although it would have provided for the desired robustness.