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Abstract-This paper presents a methodology to implement PID (Proportional, Integral, Derivative) controllers in FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays) using fixed-point numerical representation. The Matlab/Simulink environment is used for modeling, simulation and evaluation the performance provided by different fixed-point representations using a given control process. A static bit-width analyzer is used to give a specialized fixed-point representation for each operand/operator in the controller system. After bit-width analysis, a VHDL representation of the system is generated. Results show that the proposed methodology leads to shorten design cycles achieving important resource savings by employing specialized fixed-point representations.

Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are becoming increasingly important in embedded and high-performance computing systems. They allow performance levels close to the ones obtained with Application-Specific Integrated Circuits, while still keeping design and implementation flexibility. However, to efficiently program FPGAs, one needs the expertise of hardware developers in order to master hardware description languages (HDLs) such as VHDL or Verilog. Attempts to furnish a high-level compilation flow (e.g., from C programs) still have to address open issues before broader efficient results can be obtained. Bearing in mind an FPGA available resources, it has been developed LALP (Language for Aggressive Loop Pipelining), a novel language to program FPGA-based accelerators, and its compilation framework, including mapping capabilities. The main ideas behind LALP are to provide a higher abstraction level than HDLs, to exploit the intrinsic parallelism of hardware resources, and to allow the programmer to control execution stages whenever the compiler techniques are unable to generate efficient implementations. Those features are particularly useful to implement loop pipelining, a well regarded technique used to R. Menotti (B) · M. M. Fernandes accelerate computations in several application domains. This paper describes LALP, and shows how it can be used to achieve high-performance computing solutions.

Aos meus pais, José e Elda, pelo carinho, dedicação e pelas orações. Aos meus irmãos Rodrigo e Regiane, pelo apoio em todos os momentos. À Ana Rubia, pelo incentivo e compreensão. Aos meus orientadores, professor Eduardo Marques e professor João Cardoso da FEUP, pelo apoio, confiança, orientações acadêmicas e pessoais, e pela amizade. Ao professor Marcio Fernandes da UFSCar, pela ajuda nos trabalhos realizados em cooperação. Ao professor João Lima da UAlg, pelo companheirismo e pela acolhida no Algarve.

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