Energy Efficiency of Full Pipelining: A Case Study for Matrix Multiplication

Abstract

Customized pipeline designs that minimize the pipeline initiation interval (II) maximize the throughput of FPGA accelerators designed with high-level synthesis (HLS). What is the impact of minimizing II on energy efficiency? Using a matrix-multiply accelerator, we show that matrix multiplies with II>1 can sometimes reduce dynamic energy below II=1 due to interconnect savings, but II=1 always achieves energy close to the minimum. We also identify sources of inefficient mapping in the commercial tool flow.

Peipei Zhou

Assistant Professor of Engineering

My research interests include Customized Computer Architecture and Programming Abstraction for Health & AI Applications