Acceleration of a 2D-FFT on an Adaptable Computing Cluster

Despite a decade of research into their use for computing applications, FPGA-based custom computing machines are still only used to accelerate a limited range of applications. Recognizing that recent advances in network technology provide an opportunity for a more general-purpose application of custom computing machines, we develop the idea of an intelligent network adapter for cluster-based parallel computing, calling the resulting architecture an Adaptable Computing Cluster. Results presented suggest that placing the FPGAs in the data path to the network dramatically improves the performance and scalability of target applications. This is especially noteworthy because the target applications have historically not performed well on either technology. This paper discusses how FPGAs can be used to provide network functionality while increasing compute power. The focus is on a specific application, the 2D Fast Fourier Transform, with additional insights into the implications for parallel computing on a cluster.