Overview of FPGA-Based Multiprocessor Systems

Modern Systems-on-Chip (SoC) development is moving toward multiprocessor-based design. Embedded systems have evolved from an uniprocessor to a multiprocessor approach, seeking better performance and less energy consumption. It is widely accepted that Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoC) will become the predominant class of embedded systems in future. In addition, advances in FPGA technology makes it possible to implement complete multiprocessor systems in a single FPGA. It allows fast design, implementation and testing of new devices. This paper presents an overview of FPGA-based multiprocessor systems. It describes the main characteristics, comments on several FPGA-based multiprocessor systems appearing in the research community in the last 5 years and discusses some of the challenges in this field.