\thispagestyle{plain} \noindent \begin{tikzpicture} \node[fill=fnDark,text=white,rounded corners=2pt,inner sep=6pt, minimum width=\textwidth,anchor=west] {\large\bfseries FPGA-Neural V2 --- General description and features}; \end{tikzpicture} \vspace{6pt} \noindent {\small FPGA-Neural V2 is a \textbf{neural multiprocessor / dataflow machine}, the evolution of the V1 sequential accelerator (documented separately, frozen and unmodified as the project's golden reference). Where V1 executes one neuron at a time under host-driven SPI control, V2 registers a \textbf{dependency graph of neurons} and keeps \code{N\_SLOTS} independent Neural Processor $+$ Memory Manager pairs busy concurrently, resolving data dependencies and hiding PSRAM latency in hardware, without host intervention once a graph is loaded. Computation (INT8 MAC, ReLU, saturation) is bit-exact identical to V1's own datapath; what changed is everything \emph{around} it.} \vspace{8pt} \begin{multicols}{2} {\color{fnDark}\large\bfseries Features}\\[2pt] {\footnotesize \begin{itemize}[leftmargin=1.1em] \item \textbf{Dependency-graph scheduling}: nodes are registered with an explicit producer list; a node becomes eligible for execution only once every producer it depends on has genuinely completed --- verified for 1-hop shared-producer/multi-consumer graphs and 2-hop transitive (diamond) graphs. \item \code{N\_SLOTS} independent \textbf{Neural Processor + Memory Manager} pairs (default recommended: \textbf{2}), each running the identical 8-stage INT8 pipeline inherited from V1. \item \textbf{Word-level burst memory backend}: fetches move a full 16-bit PSRAM word per transaction instead of one byte, reusing \code{memory\_interface.v}/\code{psram\_controller.v} directly and its already-implemented page-mode support --- \textbf{2.24--2.37$\times$} real wall-clock speedup, measured. \item \textbf{Shared on-chip activation cache}: a vector of activations shared by many neurons of the same layer is fetched from PSRAM \emph{once}, not once per neuron --- a further real \textbf{1.66--2.00$\times$} cycle reduction on shared-input workloads. \item Same \textbf{real, unmodified V1 PSRAM backend} throughout (\code{memory\_interface.v}, \code{psram\_controller.v}) --- V1 remains the frozen golden reference and was never altered to make V2 look faster. \item \textbf{Real, measured} characterization at every step: Verilator RTL simulation, Yosys synthesis, real \code{nextpnr-ecp5} place\&route --- no theoretical number reported without a matching real measurement. \end{itemize}} \columnbreak {\color{fnDark}\large\bfseries Honest, measured limitations}\\[2pt] {\footnotesize \begin{itemize}[leftmargin=1.1em] \item The system is \textbf{memory-bound}, not compute-bound: real compute- to-memory-wait ratio on the order of 1:170--1:220. A single shared PSRAM port saturates at $\approx$90\% utilization regardless of \code{N\_SLOTS}$\ge$2 --- real parallel scaling beyond 2 slots is essentially flat for large workloads. \item \code{N\_SLOTS=4} is \textbf{not recommended}: it delivers no additional real throughput once the shared PSRAM port saturates, and with the activation cache active it \textbf{fails the 80\,MHz timing target outright} (65.01\,MHz measured). \item Fixed, lowest-index-priority arbitration (Director and memory arbiter alike) is not fairness-balanced --- a real, measured per-slot workload imbalance exists under sustained contention. \end{itemize}} \vspace{4pt} {\color{fnDark}\large\bfseries Target \& toolchain}\\[2pt] {\footnotesize \begin{itemize}[leftmargin=1.1em] \item FPGA: Lattice ECP5 \code{LFE5U-45F-8BG381C} ($-8$, CABGA381) --- same target device as V1. \item Synthesis: Yosys; place\&route: real \code{nextpnr-ecp5}. \item Simulation: Verilator 5.050 (\code{--binary --timing}) --- adopted for V2 after two independent Icarus Verilog v13.0 scheduling defects were found and reproduced on minimal repros (V1's own certification, performed separately, was unaffected). \item PSRAM: ISSI \code{IS66WVE4M16EBLL-70BLI} (64\,Mb, 4M$\times$16), real chain reused byte-for-byte from V1. \end{itemize}} \end{multicols} \vspace{2pt} % --- key parameter table --- \noindent {\small\color{fnDark}\bfseries Key parameters (recommended configuration, real measured data)} \vspace{2pt} \noindent \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{L{3.6cm}L{3.6cm}Y} \toprule \rowh \thd{Quantity} & \thd{Value} & \thd{Notes} \\ \midrule Data precision & INT8 (signed) & \code{DATA\_WIDTH}=8, identical to V1 \\ \rowa Accumulator & INT32 (signed) & \code{ACC\_WIDTH}=32 \\ Dot-product width & 8 & \code{P\_IN}=8 parallel MAC lanes per neuron \\ \rowa Recommended concurrency & \code{N\_SLOTS}=2 & real, measured net win; see ch.~\ref{ch:impl2} \\ Fmax, full system (\code{N\_SLOTS}=2) & 87.72~MHz & real place\&route, word-burst + activation cache active \\ \rowa cycles/neuron (1 neuron, 8 inputs, real PSRAM) & 166 (V1: 209) & \textbf{2.6$\times$} real wall-clock speedup vs V1 \\ Combined real speedup vs baseline (\code{N\_SLOTS}=2) & \textbf{2.45$\times$} & word-burst $+$ activation cache, D-Stress workload \\ \rowa Address space & 23~bit (byte) & \code{ADDR\_WIDTH}=23, unchanged from V1 \\ \bottomrule \end{tabularx} \vspace{8pt} \noindent {\small\color{fnDark}\bfseries System block diagram} \begin{center} \begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=6mm and 9mm,font=\footnotesize] \node[fnblockD,minimum width=24mm,minimum height=15mm] (host){HOST\\{\scriptsize registers a node graph}}; \node[fnblockT,right=14mm of host,minimum width=30mm,minimum height=13mm] (dm){Dependency\\Manager}; \node[fnblockT,right=14mm of dm,minimum width=28mm,minimum height=13mm] (dir){Neural\\Director}; \node[fnreg,fill=white,right=14mm of dir,minimum width=30mm,minimum height=20mm] (slots){ \begin{tabular}{c} N\_SLOTS $\times$ \\ Memory Manager \\ $+$ Neural Processor \end{tabular}}; \node[fnblockA,below=9mm of dir,minimum width=28mm,minimum height=11mm] (cache){Activation\\Cache}; \node[fnblock,right=14mm of slots,minimum width=22mm,minimum height=15mm] (ram){PSRAM 8\,MB\\{\scriptsize real V1 backend}}; \draw[fnbus] (host) -- (dm); \draw[fnbus] (dm) -- node[fnlbl,above]{ready node} (dir); \draw[fnbus] (dir) -- (slots); \draw[fnarrowT] (slots.south) |- (cache.east); \draw[fnarrowT] (cache.north) |- node[fnlbl,above]{producer done} (dm.south); \draw[fnbus] (slots) -- node[fnlbl,above]{16-bit word} (ram); \draw[fnbus] (cache.east) -- ++(6mm,0) |- ([yshift=-2mm]ram.south); \end{tikzpicture} \end{center} \begin{center}\footnotesize\itshape\color{fnGrey} A slot's completion feeds back to the Director (frees the slot) and to the Dependency Manager (wakes up any node waiting on it) --- closing the dataflow loop entirely on-chip.\end{center}