N
Nikolaos Kavvadias
Hi everyone
i'm pleased to announce that after two years (and about 2000 man-
hours), the HercuLeS high-level synthesis tool is ready for non-
trivial work. HercuLeS allows you to synthesize ANSI C code (certain
rules apply) to RTL VHDL.
HercuLeS is named after the homonymous constellation and not after the
demigod. You can find information on HercuLeS here:
http://www.nkavvadias.com/hercules/index.html
Some of its features:
1. Integer and fixed-point (VHDL-2008) arithmetic of arbitrary lengths
2. It is able to synthesize VHDL from code spanning across several C
functions
3. Support for both the Synopsys "de-facto standard" libraries and the
official IEEE standard libraries
4. Support of synchronous read ROM and RAM memories (directly mapped
to FPGA block RAMs)
5. Functions can pass single-dimensional array arguments
6. Support of streaming outputs (producing a sample at a time)
You can either code your input in ANSI C or in a bit-accurate typed-
assembly language called NAC (N-Address Code). Then, your input is
converted to a series of CDFGs (Control/Data Flow Graphs), expressed
as Graphviz graphs with user-defined attributes, which again are
translated to VHDL code adhering to the FSMD (Finite-State Machine
with Datapath) paradigm.
I would appreciate if you had a look at the sample files available at
the website. They illustrate complete examples of automatically
synthesized algorithms such as Bresenham's line drawing algorithm, and
the Sieve of Eratosthenes. Overall, eight complete examples can be
found at the HercuLeS website.
There will be regular updates on the HercuLeS webpage (every 1-1.5
months). The October update, scheduled for 2011/10/11, will allow
access to HercuLeS via a web interface! But first I would appreciate
feedback on whatever related to the HercuLeS webpage.
Best regards,
Nikolaos Kavvadias
Lecturer, Research Scientist, Hardware developer,
Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Sc.
i'm pleased to announce that after two years (and about 2000 man-
hours), the HercuLeS high-level synthesis tool is ready for non-
trivial work. HercuLeS allows you to synthesize ANSI C code (certain
rules apply) to RTL VHDL.
HercuLeS is named after the homonymous constellation and not after the
demigod. You can find information on HercuLeS here:
http://www.nkavvadias.com/hercules/index.html
Some of its features:
1. Integer and fixed-point (VHDL-2008) arithmetic of arbitrary lengths
2. It is able to synthesize VHDL from code spanning across several C
functions
3. Support for both the Synopsys "de-facto standard" libraries and the
official IEEE standard libraries
4. Support of synchronous read ROM and RAM memories (directly mapped
to FPGA block RAMs)
5. Functions can pass single-dimensional array arguments
6. Support of streaming outputs (producing a sample at a time)
You can either code your input in ANSI C or in a bit-accurate typed-
assembly language called NAC (N-Address Code). Then, your input is
converted to a series of CDFGs (Control/Data Flow Graphs), expressed
as Graphviz graphs with user-defined attributes, which again are
translated to VHDL code adhering to the FSMD (Finite-State Machine
with Datapath) paradigm.
I would appreciate if you had a look at the sample files available at
the website. They illustrate complete examples of automatically
synthesized algorithms such as Bresenham's line drawing algorithm, and
the Sieve of Eratosthenes. Overall, eight complete examples can be
found at the HercuLeS website.
There will be regular updates on the HercuLeS webpage (every 1-1.5
months). The October update, scheduled for 2011/10/11, will allow
access to HercuLeS via a web interface! But first I would appreciate
feedback on whatever related to the HercuLeS webpage.
Best regards,
Nikolaos Kavvadias
Lecturer, Research Scientist, Hardware developer,
Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Sc.