Call For Papers

Call For Papers - NEW: Journal-track option

The International Conference on Field-Programmable Technology (FPT’21)

Download CFP as a PDF (old dates, for reference only)

Important Events Date (23:59, AoE)
Submission to TRETS for new FPT Journal Track June 28, 2021 (final)
Title and abstract due for regular FPT papers July 26, 2021 (final)
Paper submission due for regular FPT papers August 4, 2021 (final)
Initial TRETS FPT Journal Track reviews available July 26, 2021
Submission of revised TRETS FPT Journal Track papers August 23, 2021
Initial reviews/rebuttal questions available for FPT papers September 13, 2021
Title and abstract due for Design competition (extended) September 15, 2021 (final)
Title and abstract due for PhD Forum papers (extended) September 20, 2021 (final)
Workshop/Tutorial/Special Session Proposals due September 13, 2021
Paper submission due for Design competition (extended) September 22, 2021 (final)
Paper submission due for PhD Forum (extended) September 27, 2021 (final)
Rebuttal responses due for regular FPT papers September 20, 2021
Notification for Workshop/Tutorial/Special Session Proposals September 27, 2021
Notification of acceptance PhD Forum papers October 11, 2021
Notification of acceptance (all other papers) October 18, 2021
Final copy due (all papers) October 25, 2021
Optional submission of artifacts for accepted papers to new FPT Artifact Evaluation initiative October 25, 2021
FPT’21 Conference December 6-10, 2021
Workshops/Tutorials December 6-7, 2021



Visual timeline of important dates

The FPT conference is the premier conference in the Asia-Pacific region on field-programmable technologies including reconfigurable computing devices and systems containing such components. Field-programmable devices promise the flexibility of software with the performance of hardware. The development and application of field-programmable technology have become important topics of research and development. Field-programmable technology is widely applied, in high-performance computing systems, embedded and low-power control instruments, mobile communications, rapid prototyping and product emulation, among other areas.

At this early stage, it is still unclear what the specific format of FPT 2021 is going to be, as this will depend on the state of the CoViD pandemic. Possible options include a fully virtual conference, or a hybrid format combining on-site with remote presentations. Given the advances in vaccine rollout, though, we are guardedly optimistic that we will be able to meet in person in Auckland. But there will always be an online option for authors!

Submissions are solicited on new research results and detailed tutorial expositions related to field-programmable technologies, including but not limited to:

  • Tools and Design Techniques for field-programmable technology including placement, routing, synthesis, verification, debugging, runtime support, technology mapping, partitioning, parallelization, timing optimization, design and run-time environments, high-level synthesis (HLS) compilers, languages and modeling techniques, provably-correct development, intellectual property core-based design, domain-specific development, hardware/software co-design.
  • Architectures for field-programmable technology including field-programmable gate arrays, complex programmable logic devices, coarse-grained reconfigurable arrays, field-programmable interconnect, field-programmable analogue arrays, field-programmable arithmetic arrays, memory architectures, interface technologies, low-power techniques, adaptive devices, reconfigurable computing systems, high-performance reconfigurable systems, evolvable hardware and adaptive computing, fault tolerance and avoidance.
  • Device technology for field-programmable logic including programmable memories such as non-volatile, dynamic and static memory cells and arrays, interconnect devices, circuits and switches, and emerging VLSI device technologies.
  • Applications of field-programmable technology including accelerators for biomedical / scientific / neuro-morphic computing and machine learning, network processors, real-time systems, rapid prototyping, hardware emulation, digital signal processing, interactive multimedia, machine vision, computer graphics, cryptography, robotics, manufacturing systems, embedded applications, evolvable and biologically-inspired hardware.
  • Education for field-programmable technology including courses, teaching and training experience, experiment equipment, design and applications.

Note that simply implementing an application using an FPGA is not considered a sufficient research contribution. Application-based papers should emphasize novel design techniques, novel use of embedded resources, or clearly articulated and measured system performance benefits.

Submission Guidelines

FPT 2021 is grateful to the ACM “Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems” (TRETS) for enabling us to, for the first time, offer a Journal Track in addition to regular and short papers directly submitted to FPT. The Journal Track is specifically intended for submissions that would benefit from the longer articles possible in TRETS (up to 32 ACM-style single-column pages), e.g., for clearer presentation of complex research, or an in-depth discussion of comprehensive results. Sub–missions to the Journal Track that do not take advantage of the additional space offered by TRETS, or deviate significantly from the TRETS Author Guidelines will receive the corresponding feedback early, and can then be revised and entered into the direct FPT submission process.

Direct FPT Submissions – OPEN

For direct submission to the FPT conference (Easychair submission link), the program committee solicits full and short papers describing original research in field-programmable technology, including, but not limited to, the areas of interest indicated above. Papers should be submitted electronically in PDF format, following the IEEE style. Full papers can include up to 8 pages of content, plus unlimited pages for references. Short papers are limited to 4 pages in total, including references.

Manuscripts must not identify authors or their affiliations for double-blind review. Papers that identify authors will NOT be considered. Please use the online system for submission. For details, please visit the FPT’21 website.

FPT’21 will also include a rebuttal phase, where the authors have the opportunity to answer specific questions on their submission, posed by the reviewers.

It is also planned to invite the best direct submissions to FPT to contribute to an FPT 2021 Special Issue of ACM TRETS after the conference.

Journal Track Submissions (NEW FOR FPT 2021) – CLOSED

When you decide to submit to the Journal Track, you will use the TRETS submission system to submit to the “FPT 2021 Journal Track” (which you can select after logging into your TRETS account), and then follow the ACM TRETS Author Guidelines as described above. In your TRETS cover letter, please indicate: 1) Do you plan to have artifacts (hardware, software or data) associated with your article? 2) Do you plan to have your artifacts evaluated for a possible badge? and 3) Is any specialized hardware or system setup required to evaluate your artifact? If so, please describe.

Note that the deadline for the FPT Journal Track is earlier than the deadline for direct FPT submissions. Your submission will then undergo the regular TRETS review process, and you will be provided with an initial set of reviewer comments and recommendations as outlined in the schedule above. If your submission is not rejected here, you will have sufficient time to revise the submission, and then submit it for a second round of reviews for inclusion in the Journal Track. You will be notified of the final decision on your TRETS Journal Track submission together with the rest of the direct FPT submissions.

Should your Journal Track submission be rejected in the TRETS initial review, or you feel you cannot fully address the revisions requested by the TRETS reviewers in the time provided, you may withdraw your submission from the Journal Track. You then have the option to submit a version of your paper, shortened according to the rules for regular/short FPT papers, to enter the regular review process for a direct FPT submission.

If you decide not to submit a revised version in time for the FPT Journal Track deadline above, or your revised version needs another round of revision, as decided by the final FPT PC discussions, you may choose to have an eventual later revision continue as a regular TRETS submission, independently of the FPT conference.

Journal track flow chart

Accepted Journal Track papers will receive a regular presentation slot at the conference, but will only appear as an abstract in the FPT proceedings. That abstract will refer to the full publication in TRETS.

Artifact Evaluation (NEW FOR FPT 2021)

Also, for the first time, FPT will be able to offer the authors of accepted papers to optionally participate in an artifact evaluation process, aiming to increase the reproducibility of results. Details on this will be forthcoming and be described on the FPT web site. Note that participating in this optional process will not require you to open-source your research artifacts! More information on the Artifact Evaluation page.

Call for Workshop/Tutorial proposals

We also call for workshops and tutorials, which will be held in advance of the conference. For details, please visit the Workshops/Tutorials page.

Organizing Committees

Organizing committee