As most of you know, the majority of full-time development on lowRISC takes place at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. However, we’re far from the only open source hardware activity at the University. Our colleagues on the NetFPGA project have an open source design challenge that many readers of this blog might be interested in. See the design challenge website, or read below for more details:
We are pleased to announce the 2017 NetFPGA Design Challenge!
NetFPGA platforms are used by the networked systems community for close to
a decade. The platforms enable researchers and instructors to build
high-speed, hardware-accelerated networking systems. The platforms can be used
by researchers to prototype advanced services for next-generation networked
systems. By using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), NetFPGA enables new
types of packet routing circuits to be implemented and detailed measurements
of network traffic to be obtained.
The NetFPGA 2017 contest is a design challenge. The design teams are to
produce a working implementation employing any HW and SW design methodology
and targeting the NetFPGA SUME platform. The deadline for submissions is April
13th, 2017. The winners will be announced at the NetFPGA Developers Summit
(Thursday 20th - Friday, 21st April, 2017 Cambridge, UK).
Challenge: Lowest Latency Switch
Low latency devices are being increasingly used across a large number of
applications. Low latency solutions are few, and are rarely open source. The
goal of this challenge is to provide a usable, high performance, open source
alternative to use by universities and organizations who need the flexibility
of open source. The systems will be evaluated using OSNT, an Open Source
Network Tester. Test benches will be available online, for users to experiment
and independently evaluate their design. The competition is open to students
of all levels (undergraduate and postgraduate), as well as to non students.
There is no need to own a NetFPGA SUME platform to take part in the
competition although, clearly, development and testing will be made easier if
you have access to this platform.
Team Prizes:
First place: £500
Best students project: £500
The winning projects and runner ups will be invited to present their work
at the NetFPGA Developers Summit 2017. All challenge participants are keenly
encouraged to attend the NetFPGA Developers Summit and are entitled to a
reduced registration rate.
The design challenge prizes are generously
supported by IMC http://www.imc.nl/Contact us
lowRISC is a not-for-profit company using collaborative engineering to develop and maintain open source silicon designs and tools, through a unique combination of skills, expertise and vision.
We provide a home for multi-partner projects that deliver verified, high quality IP and tools, which provide the solid foundations that are necessary for the rapid development cycles required for next generation silicon products. lowRISC employs an engineering team in Cambridge, UK, working on our own developments, partner projects, and work-for-hire that is aligned with our mission.