Reconfigurable Data Path Array

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A reconfigurable data path array or rDPA is a semiconductor device containing reconfigurable data path units (rDPU) and programmable interconnects. Such reconfigurable interconnects allow the rDPUs of an rDPA to be interconnected as needed by the system designer. Each rDPU can be configured to perform an individual function. These rDPUs and interconnects can be programmed after the manufacturing process by the customer/designer (hence the term "reconfigurable") so that the rDPA can perform whatever complex computation is needed. Because rDPUs are multiple bits wide (for instance, 32 bits), we talk about coarse-grained reconfigurability - in contrast to FPGAs with single-bit wide configurable logic blocks, called fine-gained reconfigurable.