Rising data rates and input/output density in integrated circuits are challenging the traditional off-chip copper interconnect solutions, demanding a compatible high-speed serial interface capable of maintaining multi-gigabits data rates. Designers typically choose copper interconnect for chip-to-chip connections in a Multi-FPGA System (MFS). However, copper based interconnects are incapable of scaling up with the data rate and exhibit lossy characteristics with increasing frequency. Performance of an MFS can be enhanced if the off-chip electrical interconnects are replaced by short-range optical interconnects. Additionally, the selection of MFS inter-chip communication strategy also affects system performance. We have proposed latency-optimized MFS with serial optical interface with two different inter-chip communication strategies. The proposed architectures were experimentally evaluated using six real world benchmark circuits and provided an average system frequency gain of nearly 22%, compared to conventional MFS.

中文翻译：

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延迟优化的光学和常规多FPGA系统的实验评估和比较

集成电路中数据速率和输入/输出密度的提高对传统的片外铜互连解决方案提出了挑战，要求兼容的高速串行接口能够保持数千兆位的数据速率。设计人员通常在Multi-FPGA System（MFS）中为芯片到芯片的连接选择铜互连。但是，基于铜的互连无法随着数据速率扩展，并且随着频率的增加而呈现出损耗特性。如果将片外电互连替换为短程光学互连，则可以提高MFS的性能。此外，MFS芯片间通信策略的选择也会影响系统性能。我们提出了具有两个不同芯片间通信策略的具有串行光接口的延迟优化的MFS。