Original Milestones
1. Working Program on FPGA
2. Utilize multiple FPGA's
3. Implement Miner Program for ZedBoard
4. Make ZedBoard implementation faster
5. Make Money
Implications
These original milestones were too much to be able to do in one quarter and needed to be more realistic with what could be delivered by the end of the quarter. The ZedBoard implementation utilizing the FPGA on the ZedBoard was a good idea, but would never be reached within the timespan allotted. Getting the miner program onto the ATLYS board was the highest priority, so that became the main focus of the project.
Running the ATLYS boards together in parallel became too large of a challenge and running any miner program on the ZedBoard had second highest priority, allowing it to stay on the milestone list.
- ATLYS board
2. Utilize multiple FPGA's
- Hook ATLYS boards in series and run together
3. Implement Miner Program for ZedBoard
- Modified source code to improve hashes per second
4. Make ZedBoard implementation faster
- Modified Source
5. Make Money
- Make 1 penny
Implications
These original milestones were too much to be able to do in one quarter and needed to be more realistic with what could be delivered by the end of the quarter. The ZedBoard implementation utilizing the FPGA on the ZedBoard was a good idea, but would never be reached within the timespan allotted. Getting the miner program onto the ATLYS board was the highest priority, so that became the main focus of the project.
Running the ATLYS boards together in parallel became too large of a challenge and running any miner program on the ZedBoard had second highest priority, allowing it to stay on the milestone list.
New Milestones
Week 1 and 2: (High Priority)
Understand how bitcoins work
Week 3: (High Priority)
Set up environment
Week 7: (High Priority)
Execute working version on an ATLYS board
Week 8: (High Priority)
Get statistics from ATLYS board runs
Week 9: (High Priority)
Synthesize Report
Week 10: (Low Priority)
Verify a Transaction on ZedBoard!
Run Miner program on Xillinux (Added 7th Week)
Understand how bitcoins work
- Transactions (Finished)
- Verification (Finished)
- Hashing Procedure (SHA256) (Finished)
- Spartan 6 LX45 - ATLYS Board (Finished)
Week 3: (High Priority)
Set up environment
- Download Python (Finished)
- Download Cisco AnyConnect (VPN) (Finished)
- Download and Configure ISE Design Suite (Finished)
- Set up Licensing (Finished)
Week 7: (High Priority)
Execute working version on an ATLYS board
- Synthesize and Implement project (Finished Week 6)
- Generate bitstream file from RTL (Finished Week 6)
- ATLYS board executes the bitstream file (Finished Week 6)
Week 8: (High Priority)
Get statistics from ATLYS board runs
- Time duration for an hour
- Performance
- Interval
- Source code
Week 9: (High Priority)
Synthesize Report
- Put together a report of findings
Week 10: (Low Priority)
Verify a Transaction on ZedBoard!
Run Miner program on Xillinux (Added 7th Week)
- Generate output onto terminal
Completed Milestones
1. Compile Bitcoin Mining Code
2. Run Code on ATLYS board
3. Output Statistics
ATLYS Spartan-6 FPGA:
-Power consumption: 1.7 Watts
-Hash rate: 1.2 MH/s (Megahashes/second)
-Rate-to-power ratio: 0.706 Megahashes / Joule
It is important to note that the power consumption is just that of the board, and does not include the consumption of the computer to which it is connected, as this FPGA requires being connected to a computer in order to communicate with the Bitcoin network. In reality, the combined direct and indirect power consumption of the Spartan-6 is very large, the exact value depending on the power consumption of the computer to which it is connected.
ATLYS Spartan-6 FPGA:
-Power consumption: 1.7 Watts
-Hash rate: 1.2 MH/s (Megahashes/second)
-Rate-to-power ratio: 0.706 Megahashes / Joule
It is important to note that the power consumption is just that of the board, and does not include the consumption of the computer to which it is connected, as this FPGA requires being connected to a computer in order to communicate with the Bitcoin network. In reality, the combined direct and indirect power consumption of the Spartan-6 is very large, the exact value depending on the power consumption of the computer to which it is connected.
Final Sprint
Gabe:
Week 8-9:
Week 10:
Reeza and Parry:
Week 8:
Week 9:
Week 10:
Week 8-9:
- Continue with code optimization attempts, particularly for Spartan-6 board.
- Configure GPU and CPU for Bitcoin mining
- Make benchmarks and performance comparisons
- Look for further optimizations.
- Assist with Zedboard setup and configuration, and execution of Bitcoin software.
Week 10:
- Get concluding statistics and write report
Reeza and Parry:
Week 8:
- Find python miner scripts.
- Choose the most user friendly script first.
- Read reviews and test other miner programs.
Week 9:
- Choose two favorite miner programs.
- Run for performance comparison (hashes per second)
Week 10:
- Compile statistics received
- Write report