As transistor scaling is slowing down [1], other opportunities for ensuring continuous performance increase have to be explored. Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are in the spotlight these days: not only due to their malleability and energy efficiency, but also because FPGAs have recently been integrated into the cloud [2]. The latter makes them available to everyone in need of the immense computing power and data throughput they can offer. However, one important issue needs to be resolved first - the time to compile an industrial-scale design for an FPGA must be drastically reduced. Researchers have been looking for ways to accelerate FPGA routing through parallelism, since routing is one of the most time-consuming compilation steps. However, the ideal solution has not been found yet. This paper provides a survey of parallel FPGA routers, with the aim to identify their strengths and weaknesses, thus suggesting directions to take in further efforts for acceleration.
Mirjana Stojilovic, Dina Gamaleldin Ahmed Shawky Mahmoud, Beatrice Shokry Samir Shokry, Wei Hu
Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin, Olga Syzgantseva