SHF: Small: Visual Architectures: Engaging Crowds in Design and Discovery for Custom Reconfigurable Devices

定制的可重构计算平台提供低功耗、高性能、高效率和根据特定应用程序领域的需求量身定制的增加的冗余。成功创建这些高度定制的领域特定架构的能力提供了巨大的优势，包括数量级的节能、更长的电池寿命、更小、更快、更健壮的设备，以及更短的上市时间。然而，将极端定制化作为设计过程的一个组成部分，需要设计变得非常简单，以创建新颖的、开箱即用的架构，直接解决特定领域的需求。这一挑战可以分为三个具体领域：(1)发现快速、高效的算法，允许快速的设计空间探索；(2)通过促进非科学家和非工程师的计算思维来增加参与和扩大社区；(3)通过创新的视觉框架培养下一代定制芯片设计师。该项目将开发有效的多人合作游戏，允许玩家团队协作解决更大范围和更复杂的地图和设计问题。在这方面，该项目也主要涉及代表性不足的群体成员。这项研究围绕着开发视觉架构的想法来解决上面概述的挑战。更具体地说，该项目包括：(a)创造一个高度视觉化的游戏式设计环境，从而使复杂的建筑和地图问题变得容易理解，从而提高参与度；(b)分析由不断扩大的玩家群体产生的大量数据，以发现更好、更有效的自动算法；(c)利用由此创造的互动平台，教育下一代芯片设计师，培养他们的技能和直觉。

Custom reconfigurable computing platforms offer low power, high performance, high efficiency, and increased redundancy tailored to the needs of a specific application domain. The ability to successfully create these highly customized domain-specific architectures offers tremendous advantages, including orders of magnitude power savings, longer battery lives, smaller, faster, more robust devices, and a shorter time to market. However, making extreme customization an integral part of the design process requires design to be significantly simpler to create novel, out of the box architectures that directly address the requirements of a specific domain. This challenge can be divided into three specific areas: (1) discover fast, efficient algorithms that allow for rapid design space exploration; (2) increase participation and widen the community by promoting computational thinking among non-scientists and non-engineers; and (3) educate the next generation of custom chip designers through innovative visual frameworks. Effective multiplayer and cooperative games will be developed in this project that allow teams of players to collaboratively solve mapping and design problems of much larger scope and complexity. In this respect the project also involves members if underrepresented groups in a major way. This research is centered around the idea of developing Visual Architectures to address the challenges outlined above. More specifically, the project involves: (a) creating a highly visual, game-like design environment, thus making complex architecture and mapping problems accessible leading to greater engagement and significantly increasing participation; (b) analyze the vast amounts of data generated through the widening player community to discover better, more efficient automated algorithms; (c) employ the interactive platforms thus created to educate the next generation of chip designers and build their skills and intuitions.