FPGA-Based Solution for On-Board Verification of Hardware Modules Using HLS

Abstract

High-Level Synthesis (HLS) tools provide facilities for the development of specialized hardware accelerators (HWacc). However, the verification stage is still the longest phase in the development life-cycle. Unlike in the software industry, HLS tools lack testing frameworks that could cover the whole design flow, especially the on-board verification stage of the generated RTL. This work introduces a framework for on-board verification of HLS-based modules by using reconfigurable systems and Docker containers with the aim to automate the verification process and preserve a clean testing environment, making the testbed reusable across different stages of the design flow. Moreover, our solution features a mechanism to check timing requirements of the HWacc. We have applied our solution to the C-kernels of the CHStone Benchmark on a Zedboard, in which the on-board verification process has been accelerated up to four times.