CAD (Computer-Aided Design) Tools for Designing Signal Processors

The proposed research is directed toward development of an efficient system of CAD tools which allow rapid and efficient implementation of a class of VLSI architectures. The proposers will limit the system to a class of target architectures that is restricted, but still robust enough to be of interest. The target architectures are hierarchial meshes, an extension of the systolic array class. Their system will also have signal processing as the target application area, since the majority of CAD effort in the country is on VLSI circuits for signal processing. The proposed tools to support the design of target architectures do the functions: module generation and multilevel logic reduction; gate placement within a component; component placement within the hierarchial mesh architecture, and tools to help with circuit simulation, layout, verification, and test vector generation. The tools will be designed so that they can be tuned to classes of architectures other than hierarchial mesh. VLSI (very large scale integration) is a recent field that explores how to design highly complex integrated circuits and related electronic systems. Development of the field is important to the nation's competitive lead in electronics. Research on tools, tool systems and computer-aided design (CAD) methodologies is needed because existing tools and design systems do not scale up to meet the possibilities of today's VLSI technology. Especially of interest is progress in automating the design process. This proposal is aimed at the CAD automation problem, and the results will advance our knowledge in this field. This research is aimed at transfer of the technology, since the tools will be designed to integrate with standard, widely used software such as Unix, VALID Logic workstations, the widely-used MAGIC tools from Berkeley and MOSSIM from Xidex. The co-principal investigators have made important contributions to the CAD tools area. They bring to bear a useful blend of theoretical and practical talents.