diff --git a/docs/_posts/2020-05-08-finn-v03b-beta-is-released.md b/docs/_posts/2020-05-08-finn-v03b-beta-is-released.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b5bdccdabcf0e4a90de55ce2a89f58f44f54e64f --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/_posts/2020-05-08-finn-v03b-beta-is-released.md @@ -0,0 +1,51 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: "FINN v0.3b (beta) is released" +author: "Yaman Umuroglu" +--- + +We're happy to announce the v0.3b (beta) release of the FINN compiler. +The full changelog is quite large as we've been working on a lot of exciting +new features, but here is a summary: + +| <img src="https://xilinx.github.io/finn/img/cnv-mp-fc.jpg" width="450" height="500" align="center"/>| +| :---:| +| *[FINN-R](https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.10261) style hardware architecture for CNNs* | + +<b>Initial support for ConvNets and end-to-end notebook example.</b> The +preliminary support for convolutions is now in place. Head over to the new +<a href="https://github.com/Xilinx/finn/blob/staging/v0.3b/notebooks/end2end_example/cnv_end2end_example.ipynb"> +end-to-end notebook</a> to try out the end-to-end flow for convolutions +and build the demonstrator for a simple binarized CNN on CIFAR-10. + +| <img src="https://xilinx.github.io/finn/img/parallel-speedup.png" width="450" height="500" align="center"/>| +| :---:| +| *HLS synthesis speedup by parallelization. Courtesy of @HenniOVP.* | + +<b>Parallel transformations.</b> When working with larger designs, HLS synthesis +and simulation compile times can be quite long. Thanks to a contribution by +@HenniOVP we now support multi-process parallelization several FINN transformations. +You can read more about those <a href="https://github.com/Xilinx/finn/blob/staging/v0.3b/notebooks/advanced/1_custom_transformation_pass.ipynb">here</a>. + +| <img src="https://xilinx.github.io/finn/finn/img/mem_mode.png" width="450" height="500" align="center"/>| +| :---:| +| *Const and decoupled mem_modes for MVAUs.* | + +<b>Decoupled memory mode for MVAUs.</b> To have more control over how the weight +memories are implemented, you can now specify the `mem_mode` and `ram_style` +attributes when instantiating compute engines. Read more <a href="https://finn.readthedocs.io/en/latest/internals.html#streamingfclayer-mem-mode">here.</a> + +<b>Throughput testing and optimizations.</b> To do a quick assessment of the +customized accelerators you build, we now support a throughput test mode that +lets you benchmark the accelerator with a configurable number of samples. +To get better utilization from the heterogeneous streaming architectures FINN +builds, we have also introduced a FIFO insertion transformation. +You can see these in action in the updated <a href="https://github.com/Xilinx/finn/blob/staging/v0.3b/notebooks/end2end_example/tfc_end2end_example.ipynb"> +TFC-w1a1 end2end notebook.</a> + +We have a slew of other smaller features, bugfixes and various other improvements. +The release (tagged 0.3b) is now available on GitHub. +We're continuously working to improve FINN in terms of layer, network and +infrastructure. +If you'd like to help out, please check out the <a href="https://github.com/Xilinx/finn/blob/staging/v0.3b/CONTRIBUTING.md">contribution guidelines</a> and +share your ideas on the <a href="https://gitter.im/xilinx-finn/community">FINN Gitter channel</a>! diff --git a/docs/img/cnv-mp-fc.png b/docs/img/cnv-mp-fc.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1d1fb0045e764be2ecf6773b3701553a928fbd23 Binary files /dev/null and b/docs/img/cnv-mp-fc.png differ diff --git a/docs/img/parallel-speedup.png b/docs/img/parallel-speedup.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..abea8f9bd5251d51732c9281e9b0705adeeabe64 Binary files /dev/null and b/docs/img/parallel-speedup.png differ