# Agile SoC Development with Open ESP

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.01178 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.01178/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 2 Sep 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [CFU Playground: Full-Stack Open-Source Framework for Tiny Machine Learning (tinyML) Acceleration on FPGAs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.01863/) (2022)
- [hls4ml: A Flexible, Open-Source Platform for Deep Learning Acceleration on Reconfigurable Hardware](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.01463/) (2025)
- [An Open-Source HW-SW Co-Development Framework Enabling Efficient Multi-Accelerator Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.14582/) (2025)
- [NOVA: NoC-based Vector Unit for Mapping Attention Layers on a CNN Accelerator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.04206/) (2024)
- [SPECTRA: Adaptive Execution of Speculative Decoding on a Runtime-Reconfigurable Tiled Architecture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.24847/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

ESP is an open-source research platform for heterogeneous SoC design. The platform combines a modular tile-based architecture with a variety of application-oriented flows for the design and optimization of accelerators. The ESP architecture is highly scalable and strikes a balance between regularity and specialization. The companion methodology raises the level of abstraction to system-level design and enables an automated flow from software and hardware development to full-system prototyping on FPGA. For application developers, ESP offers domain-specific automated solutions to synthesize new accelerators for their software and to map complex workloads onto the SoC architecture. For hardware engineers, ESP offers automated solutions to integrate their accelerator designs into the complete SoC. Conceived as a heterogeneous integration platform and tested through years of teaching at Columbia University, ESP supports the open-source hardware community by providing a flexible platform for agile SoC development.