Open Access

ARTICLE

An Improved LZO Compression Algorithm for FPGA Configuration Bitstream Files

Xiaoling Lai^1,2, Jian Zhang², Yangming Guo^1,*, Ting Ju², Qi Zhu², Guochang Zhou²

1 School of Computer Science, Northwestern Polytechnic University, Xi’an, 710072, China
2 Xi’an Branch of China Academy of Space Technology, Xi’an, 710100, China

* Corresponding Author: Yangming Guo. Email:

Computers, Materials & Continua 2025, 82(2), 3091-3109. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2025.058688

Received 18 September 2024; Accepted 22 November 2024; Issue published 17 February 2025

Abstract

With the increase in the quantity and scale of Static Random-Access Memory Field Programmable Gate Arrays (SRAM-based FPGAs) for aerospace application, the volume of FPGA configuration bit files that must be stored has increased dramatically. The use of compression techniques for these bitstream files is emerging as a key strategy to alleviate the burden on storage resources. Due to the severe resource constraints of space-based electronics and the unique application environment, the simplicity, efficiency and robustness of the decompression circuitry is also a key design consideration. Through comparative analysis current bitstream file compression technologies, this research suggests that the Lempel Ziv Oberhumer (LZO) compression algorithm is more suitable for satellite applications. This paper also delves into the compression process and format of the LZO compression algorithm, as well as the inherent characteristics of configuration bitstream files. We propose an improved algorithm based on LZO for bitstream file compression, which optimises the compression process by refining the format and reducing the offset. Furthermore, a low-cost, robust decompression hardware architecture is proposed based on this method. Experimental results show that the compression speed of the improved LZO algorithm is increased by 3%, the decompression hardware cost is reduced by approximately 60%, and the compression ratio is slightly reduced by 0.47%.

---

Keywords

---