Chained Updates Between AI Engine Kernels - 2020.2 English

The previous run-time parameter examples highlight the ability to do run-time parameter updates from the control processor. It is also possible to propagate parameter updates between AI Engines. If an inout port on a kernel is connected to an input port on another kernel, then a chain of updates can be triggered through multiple AI Engines. Consider the two kernels defined in the following code. The producer has an input port that reads a scalar integer and an inout port that can read and write to an array of 32 integers. The consumer has an input port that can read an array of coefficients, and an output port that can write a window of data.

#ifndef FUNCTION_KERNELS_H
#define FUNCTION_KERNELS_H
 
  void producer(const int32 &, int32 (&)[32] );
  void consumer(const int32 (&)[32], output_window_cint16 *);

#endif

As shown in the following graph, the PS updates the scalar input of the producer kernel. When the producer kernel is run, it automatically triggers execution of the consumer kernel (when a buffer is available for the output data).

#include <adf.h>
#include "kernels.h"

using namespace adf;

class chainedGraph : public graph {
private:
  kernel first;
  kernel second;
  
public:
  input_port select_value; 
  output_port out;

  chainedGraph() {
      first =  kernel::create(producer);
      second = kernel::create(consumer);

      connect< window <32> >(second.out[0], out);
      connect<parameter>(select_value, first.in[0]);
      connect<parameter>(first.inout[0], second.in[0]);
  }
};

If the intention is to make a one-time update of values that are used in continuous processing of streams, the consumer parameter input port can use the async modifier to ensure it runs continuously (when a parameter is provided).