CAREER: Making Asynchronous Design Practical

这项研究是关于异步(自定时)VLSI电路的。对自定时电路的高性能设计和测试正在进行研究。研究的重点是开发以下领域的工具和方法。首先，定义了一种适用于自定时VLSI系统的新的数据传输方案--有界偏斜协议。第二，正在开发测试自定时电路的技术和工具，特别强调对异步电路中的实际延迟进行建模和测试。第三，正在研究通过以并发性换取功率和使用电压调节技术来降低自定时电路中的功耗的方法。最后，通过在算术和信号处理应用中实现原型VLSI芯片，展示了异步VLSI设计的潜力。

This research is on asynchronous (self-timed) VLSI circuits. High performance design, and testing of self-timed circuits are being investigated. Research focuses on developing tools and methodologies in the following areas. First, a new data transmission scheme for self-timed VLSI systems, the bounded-skew protocol, is being defined. Second, techniques and tools to test self-timed circuits with special emphasis on modeling and testing the actual delays in asynchronous circuits are being developed. Third, methods to reduce power consumption in self-timed circuits by trading concurrency for power and using voltage scaling techniques are being examined. Finally, the potential of asynchronous VLSI design is being demonstrated through implementing prototype VLSI chips in arithmetic and signal processing applications.