OpenCL for FPGAs

OpenCL is the open standard for parallel programming across heterogeneous computing environments. penCL includes a standard C language (based on C99) for writing kernels, OpenCL C extensions, and an API that is used to define OpenCL objects, execute OpenCL kernels and control the OpenCL platform. Implementing FPGA design with OpenCL allows designers to easily offload parts of the algorithm to the FPGA to increase performance and improve productivity. This parallel programming methodology uses a kernel approach where data is passed to the specified kernel for processing. The kernel code uses C language with a minimal set of extensions that allows parts of the application code or sub routines to take advantage of parallel performance by processing via the FPGA.