Agile and Open-Source Hardware
Yungang Bao, Trevor E. Carlson
Abstract
The thirteen articles in this special section focus on agile and open source hardware. These papers cover variety of research topics related to fast, agile, and open hardware design, including methodologies, languages, abstractions, and simulators. As the benefits f traditional technology scaling, like Dennard Scaling and Moore’s Law, slow significantly, computer architecture is poised to enter a golden age of innovation. Domain-specific architectures (DSA) are a promising solution to continue improving computing performance, while maintaining the level of energyand area-efficiency previously found in technology scaling. Unfortunately, traditional methodologies of chip design and hardware development have created significant barriers, requiring extremely high non-recurring engineering costs in tools, labor, IPs, and time, which ultimately hold back broad adoption of DSA.