MetaML-Pro: Cross-Stage Design Flow Automation for Efficient Deep Learning Acceleration

TL;DR

MetaML-Pro is a framework that automates the optimization and deployment of deep neural networks on resource-limited hardware like FPGAs, significantly reducing manual effort and design time while maintaining high accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a unified, automated approach combining programmatic DNN optimization with high-level synthesis and advanced search strategies for efficient hardware deployment.

Findings

Up to 92% DSP reduction while maintaining accuracy

Up to 89% LUT reduction with preserved accuracy

15.6-fold faster optimization compared to grid search

Abstract

This paper presents a unified framework for codifying and automating optimization strategies to efficiently deploy deep neural networks (DNNs) on resource-constrained hardware, such as FPGAs, while maintaining high performance, accuracy, and resource efficiency. Deploying DNNs on such platforms involves addressing the significant challenge of balancing performance, resource usage (e.g., DSPs and LUTs), and inference accuracy, which often requires extensive manual effort and domain expertise. Our novel approach addresses two core key issues: (i)~encoding custom optimization strategies and (ii)~enabling cross-stage optimization search. In particular, our proposed framework seamlessly integrates programmatic DNN optimization techniques with high-level synthesis (HLS)-based metaprogramming, leveraging advanced design space exploration (DSE) strategies like Bayesian optimization to automate both top-down and bottom-up design flows. Hence, we reduce the need for manual intervention and domain expertise. In addition, the framework introduces customizable optimization, transformation, and control blocks to enhance DNN accelerator performance and resource efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate up to a 92\% DSP and 89\% LUT usage reduction for select networks, while preserving accuracy, along with a 15.6-fold reduction in optimization time compared to grid search. These results highlight the potential for automating the generation of resource-efficient DNN accelerator designs with minimum effort.