Design of networked hw/sw complex system using hardware object model and its application

In this paper, we describe a design example of a networked hw/sw complex system based on the hardware object model. In the design flow of the proposed system, a hardware unit can be handled as an object in object-oriented design. This hardware object can be dynamically constructed, executed, and destructed from any remote applications on the network. The hardware object is loaded into the FPGA´s virtual hardware circuit space, and accelerates user applications. To realize these functions, we propose virtualization technologies to remotely reconfigure and control the hardware object. As the platform of the networked hw/sw complex system, we have developed a hwModule FPGA board and its System Development Kit. In order to demonstrate the proposed architecture´s effectiveness, a video streaming application based on the networked hw/sw complex system has been developed.