Labomat 3 is a reconfigurable platform for teaching and research purposes developed by our laboratory. The main features of the board are: (1) a microprocessor associated with two mid-range FPGAs, (2) a powerful multitasking real-time operating system including a JavaVM, (3) easy to use design tools, and (4) a networking interface. In this paper we describe the hardware and software of the board as well as some application domains.

Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are large, fast integrated circuits-that can be modified, or configured, almost at any point by the end user. Within the domain of configurable computing, we distinguish between two modes of configurability: static-where the configurable processor's configuration string is loaded once at the outset, after which it does not change during execution of the task at hand, and dynamic-where the processor's configuration may change at any moment. This paper describes four applications in the domain of configurable computing, considering both static and dynamic systems, including: SPYDER (a reconfigurable processor development system), RENCO (a reconfigurable network computer), Firefly (an evolving machine), and the BioWatch (a self-repairing watch). While static configurability mainly aims at attaining the classical computing goal of improving performance, dynamic configurability might bring about an entirely new breed of hardware devices-ones that are able to adapt within dynamic environments.

RENCO is a reconfigurable network computer based on a Motorola 68360 processor for the conventional part, and four Altera Flex 10K130 or 10K250 FPGAs for the reconfigurable part. Therefore, the user has at his/her disposal up to one million programmable logic gates for executing his/her applications in a custom-made processor. RENCO runs a real-time operating system and a Java virtual machine.

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