Virtualizing FPGAs for Cloud Computing Applications
A. Stuart Byma · TSpace (University of Toronto) · 2014
Cloud computing has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and represents a computing paradigm where all resources are virtualized, flexible and scalable. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have the potential to accelerate many cloud-based applications, but as of yet are not available as cloud resources because they are so different from the conventional microprocessors that virtual machines (VMs) are based on. This thesis presents a first attempt at virtualizing and integrating FPGAs into cloud computing systems, making them available as generic cloud resources to end users. A novel architecture enabling this integration is presented and explored, and several custom hardware applications are evaluated on a prototype system. These applications show that Virtualized FPGA Resources can significantly outperform VMs in certain classes of common cloud computing applications, showing the potential to increase user compute power while reducing datacenter power consumption and operating costs.