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Main Authors: Li, Guoyu, Zheng, Pengbo, Weng, Jian, Yang, Enshan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11441
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author Li, Guoyu
Zheng, Pengbo
Weng, Jian
Yang, Enshan
author_facet Li, Guoyu
Zheng, Pengbo
Weng, Jian
Yang, Enshan
contents Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) remain prevalent in computer vision applications, and FPGAs, known for their flexibility and energy efficiency, have become essential components in heterogeneous acceleration systems. However, traditional FPGAs face challenges in balancing performance and versatility due to limited on-chip resources. AMD's Versal ACAP architecture, tailored for AI applications, incorporates AI Engines (AIEs) to deliver high computational power. Nevertheless, the platform suffers from insufficient memory bandwidth, hindering the full utilization of the AIEs' theoretical performance. In this paper, we present DPUV4E for the Versal architecture, providing configurations ranging from 2PE ($32.6$ TOPS) to 8PE ($131.0$ TOPS). We design two computation units, Conv PE and DWC PE, to support different computational patterns. Each computation unit's data flow efficiently utilizes the data reuse opportunities to mitigate bandwidth bottlenecks. Additionally, we extend the functionality of each PE to utilize AIEs for non-convolutional operations, reducing resource overhead. Experiments on over 50 models show that compared to previous designs, our design provides $8.6\times$ the TOPS/W of traditional FPGA-based DPU designs, while reducing DSP usage by $95.8\%$, LUT usage by $44.7\%$, and latency to $68.5\%$ under single-batch conditions. For end-to-end inference, our design improving throughput by up to $2.2\times$ for depth-wise convolution models and up to $1.3\times$ for standard models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_11441
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle DPUV4E: High-Throughput DPU Architecture Design for CNN on Versal ACAP
Li, Guoyu
Zheng, Pengbo
Weng, Jian
Yang, Enshan
Hardware Architecture
Artificial Intelligence
Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) remain prevalent in computer vision applications, and FPGAs, known for their flexibility and energy efficiency, have become essential components in heterogeneous acceleration systems. However, traditional FPGAs face challenges in balancing performance and versatility due to limited on-chip resources. AMD's Versal ACAP architecture, tailored for AI applications, incorporates AI Engines (AIEs) to deliver high computational power. Nevertheless, the platform suffers from insufficient memory bandwidth, hindering the full utilization of the AIEs' theoretical performance. In this paper, we present DPUV4E for the Versal architecture, providing configurations ranging from 2PE ($32.6$ TOPS) to 8PE ($131.0$ TOPS). We design two computation units, Conv PE and DWC PE, to support different computational patterns. Each computation unit's data flow efficiently utilizes the data reuse opportunities to mitigate bandwidth bottlenecks. Additionally, we extend the functionality of each PE to utilize AIEs for non-convolutional operations, reducing resource overhead. Experiments on over 50 models show that compared to previous designs, our design provides $8.6\times$ the TOPS/W of traditional FPGA-based DPU designs, while reducing DSP usage by $95.8\%$, LUT usage by $44.7\%$, and latency to $68.5\%$ under single-batch conditions. For end-to-end inference, our design improving throughput by up to $2.2\times$ for depth-wise convolution models and up to $1.3\times$ for standard models.
title DPUV4E: High-Throughput DPU Architecture Design for CNN on Versal ACAP
topic Hardware Architecture
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11441