Can Impulse C be used for FPGA-based grid computing?
Yes. By combining one or more traditional processors (running one or more Impulse C processes) with FPGA processing nodes (also programmed using Impulse C) it is possible to create extremely high performance computing grids using a streaming programming model. Streaming may be accomplished using high-speed serial links that map directly to Impulse C stream interfaces. There are multiple research teams using Impulse C for this purpose today. In some cases these teams are making use of hand-crafted VHDL for critical processes and using the Impulse C programming model (and automatic generation of stream interfaces) as a system-level framework, in addition to making use of the C-to-hardware compilation features of CoDeveloper. Impulse C is highly applicable to such applications.
