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Bitstream file reference

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The bitstream kernels are the core component of every FPGA accelerated application. In order to allow automation pipelines, InAccel introduces the bitstream specification that can be used to automatically deploy FPGA binaries on any cluster of FPGAs. It is the single source of information about user's repository of accelerators, that enables Coral to explicitly manage all the supported multi-FPGA platforms through a uniform interface, transforming any set of FPGA bitstreams/kernels to a single pool of hardware accelerators.

What is a bitstream repository?-

A bitstream repository manages your end-to-end bitstream lifecycle while providing consistency to your CI/CD workflow. A bitstream repository is both a source for bitstream artifacts needed by an accelerated application, and a target to deploy bitstreams generated in the build process. The bitstream repository is crucial for the software development process. Multiple developers from different sites use artifacts and 3rd party components from different sources, causing testing problems to arise and thus slowing down your release process. Add to all the above, the complexity of handling dozens of different types of technologies and your software development process will be brought to a halt.

InAccel’s universal bitstream packaging format supports the requirements of both FPGA vendors (Intel, Xilinx) and is also integrated with all major repository managers currently available (including JFrog Artifactory and Sonatype Nexus).

What is a bitstream artifact?-

bitstream-

Field name Type Required/Optional Description
name string required The actual name of the FPGA bitstream.
bitstreamId string required The desired package name (recommended layout a reverse-DNS [organisation].[package]).
version string required The artifact version.
description string optional Short description that may include hardware design notes.
platform *platform required Defines platform specific information.
kernels []kernel required Describes the available kernels (inside the bitstream) and their properties.

Sample:

{
    "name": "bitstream.bin",
    "bitstreamId": "com.inaccel.math.vector",
    "version": "0.1",
    "description": "vector operations",
    "platform": {
        ...
    },
    "kernels": [
        ...
    ]
}
<bitstream>
    <name>bitstream.bin</name>
    <bitstreamId>com.inaccel.math.vector</name>
    <version>0.1</version>
    <description>vector operations</description>
    <platform>
        ...
    </platform>
    <kernels>
        ...
    </kernels>
</bitstream>

platform-

Field name Type Required/Optional Description
vendor string required The FPGA vendor (intel or xilinx).
name string required The FPGA board identifier.
version string required The DSA (for Xilinx) or SDK (for Intel) version.

Sample:

    "platform": {
        "vendor": "intel / xilinx",
        "name": "cool-fpga-platform-name",
        "version": "cool-fpga-platform-version"
    },
    <platform>
        <vendor>intel / xilinx</vendor>
        <name>cool-fpga-platform-name</name>
        <version>cool-fpga-platform-version</version>
    </platform>

kernel-

Field name Type Required/Optional Description
name []string required The actual name list of the FPGA kernels.
kernelId string required The desired accelerator name.
arguments []argument required The list of the accelerator arguments.

Sample:

    "kernels": [
        ...
        {
            "name": ["vadd_kernel_1"],
            "kernelId": "addition",
            "arguments": [
                ...
            ]
        },
        {
            "name": ["vsub_kernel_0"],
            "kernelId": "subtraction",
            "arguments": [
                ...
            ]
        },
        ...
    ]
    <kernels>
        ...
        <kernel>
            <name>vadd_kernel_1</name>
            <kernelId>addition</kernelId>
            <arguments>
                ...
            </arguments>
        </kernel>
        <kernel>
            <name>vsub_kernel_0</name>
            <kernelId>subtraction</kernelId>
            <arguments>
                ...
            </arguments>
        </kernel>
        ...
    </kernels>

argument-

Field name Type Required/Optional Description
index []string optional Used to modify the default argument sequence.
type string required The argument type.
name string optional The argument name.
size string optional Used to define the size of unknown argument types.
memory []string optional Defines the memory bank connections. (default: 0)
access string optional Defines the access modifier. (default: rw)

Sample:

            "arguments": [
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input1",
                    "memory": ["0"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input2",
                    "memory": ["0"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "output",
                    "memory": ["0"],
                    "access": "w"
                },
                {
                    "type": "int",
                    "name": "size"
                }
            ]
            <arguments>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input1</name>
                    <memory>0</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input2</name>
                    <memory>0</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>output</name>
                    <memory>0</memory>
                    <access>w</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>int</type>
                    <name>size</name>
                </argument>
            </arguments>

Full Sample-

Let's suppose that we have built a new bitstream binary (with name bitstream.bin) for our cool-fpga-platform. Our bitstream contains four kernels and we want to describe it in a specification file in order to deploy it as a package.

{
    "name": "bitstream.bin",
    "bitstreamId": "com.inaccel.math.vector",
    "version": "0.1",
    "description": "vector operations",
    "platform": {
        "vendor": "intel / xilinx",
        "name": "cool-fpga-fpga-platform-name",
        "version": "cool-fpga-platform-version"
    },
    "kernels": [
        {
            "name": ["vadd_kernel_0"],
            "kernelId": "addition",
            "arguments": [
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input1",
                    "memory": ["0"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input2",
                    "memory": ["0"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "output",
                    "memory": ["0"],
                    "access": "w"
                },
                {
                    "type": "int",
                    "name": "size"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "name": ["vadd_kernel_1"],
            "kernelId": "addition",
            "arguments": [
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input1",
                    "memory": ["1"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input2",
                    "memory": ["1"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "output",
                    "memory": ["1"],
                    "access": "w"
                },
                {
                    "type": "int",
                    "name": "size"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "name": ["vsub_kernel_0"],
            "kernelId": "subtraction",
            "arguments": [
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input1",
                    "memory": ["2"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input2",
                    "memory": ["2"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "output",
                    "memory": ["2"],
                    "access": "w"
                },
                {
                    "type": "int",
                    "name": "size"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "name": ["vsub_kernel_1"],
            "kernelId": "subtraction",
            "arguments": [
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input1",
                    "memory": ["3"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "input2",
                    "memory": ["3"],
                    "access": "r"
                },
                {
                    "type": "float*",
                    "name": "output",
                    "memory": ["3"],
                    "access": "w"
                },
                {
                    "type": "int",
                    "name": "size"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}
<bitstream>
    <name>bitstream.bin</name>
    <bitstreamId>com.inaccel.math.vector</bitstreamId>
    <version>0.1</version>
    <description>vector operations</description>
    <platform>
        <vendor>intel / xilinx</vendor>
        <name>cool-fpga-fpga-platform-name</name>
        <version>cool-fpga-platform-version</version>
    </platform>
    <kernels>
        <kernel>
            <name>vadd_kernel_0</name>
            <kernelId>addition</kernelId>
            <arguments>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input1</name>
                    <memory>0</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input2</name>
                    <memory>0</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>output</name>
                    <memory>0</memory>
                    <access>w</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>int</type>
                    <name>size</name>
                </argument>
            </arguments>
        </kernel>
        <kernel>
            <name>vadd_kernel_1</name>
            <kernelId>addition</kernelId>
            <arguments>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input1</name>
                    <memory>1</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input2</name>
                    <memory>1</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>output</name>
                    <memory>1</memory>
                    <access>w</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>int</type>
                    <name>size</name>
                </argument>
            </arguments>
        </kernel>
        <kernel>
            <name>vsub_kernel_0</name>
            <kernelId>subtraction</kernelId>
            <arguments>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input1</name>
                    <memory>2</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input2</name>
                    <memory>2</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>output</name>
                    <memory>2</memory>
                    <access>w</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>int</type>
                    <name>size</name>
                </argument>
            </arguments>
        </kernel>
        <kernel>
            <name>vsub_kernel_1</name>
            <kernelId>subtraction</kernelId>
            <arguments>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input1</name>
                    <memory>3</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>input2</name>
                    <memory>3</memory>
                    <access>r</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>float*</type>
                    <name>output</name>
                    <memory>3</memory>
                    <access>w</access>
                </argument>
                <argument>
                    <type>int</type>
                    <name>size</name>
                </argument>
            </arguments>
        </kernel>
    </kernels>
</bitstream>

Last update: November 6, 2020