A Development System for Rapid Prototyping of Dynamically Reconfigurable Mixed-Signal Low-Power Systems

该项目是美国国家科学基金会研究中心-小型企业合作研发计划的一部分，由美国国家科学基金会和世界自然与自然保护委员会共同建立的低功耗电子中心领导。该项目旨在为混合信号（模拟和数字）系统的快速原型开发一种新的架构。该系统将采用最近开发的动态和部分可重构现场可编程逻辑阵列（DPGA）和可重构现场可编程模拟阵列（FPAA）进行设计。它们不仅允许映射在同一硅片区域上的不同任务的时间复用，而且还允许在芯片的另一部分配置中重叠一个部分的主动计算。可以应用重新配置的粒度可以是单个可编程单元逻辑块。一个开发板和相关的CAD软件工具将被建立，将允许混合信号系统的设计。该系统的一个关键特点是部分计算可以在模拟域进行，部分计算可以在数字域进行。开发板将包括一个微处理器和相关的硬件接口来控制两个阵列。该项目是低功耗电子中心和西部设计中心（WDC）的合作成果，该中心是其小型商业合作伙伴之一。混合信号开发系统（板和软件）将由WDC制造和商业化。该系统还将分发给大学教学和研究实验室，作为模拟、数字和混合信号电路快速原型设计的工具。

9815615VrudhulaThis project is carried out as a part of the NSF Research Centers - Small Firms Collaborative R&D initiative, under the leadership of the Center for Low Power Electronics, a S/IUCRC established by the National Science Foundation.The project is aimed at developing a novel architecture for the rapid prototyping of mixed-signal (analog and digital) systems. The system will be designed using the recently developed dynamic and partially reconfigurable field programmable logic arrays (DPGA) and reconfigurable field programmable analog arrays (FPAA). They not only allow time-multiplexing of different tasks that are mapped on the same silicon area, but also allow overlapping of active computation in one section with configuration of another section of the chip. The granularity at which the reconfiguration can be applied can be a single programmable cell logic block. A development board and associated CAD software tools will be build that will permit the design of mixed-signal systems. A key feature of the system is that part of the computation can be performed in the analog domain and part of it can be performed in the digital domain. The development board will include a microprocessor and associated hardware interfaces to control the two arrays. The project is a collaborative effort of the Center for Low Power Electronics and Western Design Center (WDC), one of its small business partners. The mixed-signal development system (board and software) will be manufactured and commercialized by WDC. The system will also be distributed to university teaching and research laboratories to be used as a vehicle for the rapid prototying of analog, digital and mixed-signal circuits.