What is the difference between Cascade coprocessor synthesis and behavioural synthesis?
Coprocessor synthesis generates a software-programmable engine that may be re-programmed to deliver modified or different functionality. Behavioural synthesis generates fixed-function hardware that must be re-designed to accommodate function changes. Moreover, current behavioral synthesis tools are often incapable of implementing complex algorithms in their entirety. A fixed-function block may well deliver the requisite block-level performance, but system-level performance gains might be significantly lower because the block’s lack of local cache memory requires system memory access via the system bus, the loading of which may prevent ready data access. By contrast, the programmable coprocessor’s optimised local cache minimises latencies to deliver optimum system-level performance.
