Internet Connected FPL

In this paper we explore the design of internet-based systems using field-programmable logic (FPL). We describe results from designing a hardware platform that connects FPL directly to an internet. This hardware platform comprises an FPGA; an Ethernet interface; storage for static and dynamic configuration; and nonvolatile configuration logic. An important feature of our hardware platform design is the implementation of network protocols that allow transfer of both application and configuration data to and from an FPGA across an internet. We provide quantitative comparisons between the implementation of network protocols in programmable logic and implementations using general-purpose processors.