2023 DAC Distinguished Speaker Luncheon

The 60th Design Automation Conference is being held in San Francisco, CA, USA from 9-13 July..

Presenter: Tulika Mitra

Title: Computing Systems at the Edge: Specialize or Generalize?

Time: Tuesday, 11 July at 12:00-1:30 PM PDT

Abstract: 

The Internet of Things (IoT) system architecture is increasingly gravitating towards edge computing, where computational intelligence is situated closer to the sensors rather than on remote cloud servers due to real-time responsiveness, enhanced security, and connectivity reasons. However, the limited computing capability of general-purpose processors in power, area-constrained edge devices severely restricts their potential. In response, domain-specific hardware accelerators have emerged to address the demanding performance and energy-efficiency needs of these systems. Yet, this move towards specialization inherently contradicts the flexibility and programmability that software developers have come to appreciate in general-purpose processors. Is there a way to harness the advantages of both paradigms? In this presentation, I will explore software-defined hardware accelerators, an innovative approach with the potential to deliver efficiencies comparable to custom accelerators while maintaining versatility to support diverse applications through generalization. This approach envisages a synergistic hardware-software co-design strategy, wherein a domain-agnostic accelerator can be morphed and instantiated to specialized accelerators through software. I will particularly focus on the challenges and the remarkable opportunities that this discussion brings forth for the design automation community.

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