Field programmable gate array key to reconfigurable array outperforming supercomputers
Thomas Waugh · 2002
In order to solve the problem of mapping the human genome and other similar problems, the Supercomputing Research Center (SRC) developed SPLASH, a reconfigurable linear logic array. The SPLASH system gives a Sun workstation better than supercomputer performance on certain classes of problems. SPLASH's performance can surpass that of the Cray 2 by a factor of 325. Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) were used to build SPLASH, which is efficient like a specialized board, yet flexible like a supercomputer. The SPLASH system consists of software and hardware which plugs into two slots of a Sun workstation. The types of problems SRC is able to solve with SPLASH, why traditional solutions were not practical, and how FPGA technology allowed SRC to build SPLASH are discussed.>