New Technologies for Very Large-Scale Electronic Design Automation

超大规模电子设计自动化新技术

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-04098
• 负责人: Rakai, Logan
• 金额: $ 1.6万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=662938
• 关键词: New; Technologies; Very; Large; Scale

The field of electronic design automation is concerned with creating software capable of automating the process of designing electronic devices. The electronics industry is known for exponential increases in design complexity and performance of resulting circuits [1]. At the same time, new technologies are being developed in other fields to solve difficult problems, for example, machine learning, MapReduce programming models, and high performance computing systems. The research program outlined in what follows is aimed at developing new ways to solve very large scale problems in electronic design automation using new technologies.* *Major challenges being faced in the field are related to problems arising from scale. For example, the very large-scale problems arising out of creating circuits with billions of components. Industry is constantly feeling pressure to quickly create devices for competitive producers of electronics including computers, phones, and tablets. Automation is the key to being able to design quickly, yet the most challenging designs require substantial intervention from designers to configure the software for each design. Many iterations of a design can take place before converging to a final design meeting product specifications. The design process may take between several months to over a year for cutting-edge circuits. Hence, the targets may not be met in time to meet the producer's deadlines. Failing to meet a deadline can equate to big losses and loss of future customers in business. These factors all go to support research into solving large problems at scales never previously seen before.**The ultimate goal of the research program is to develop several pieces which will be the beginning of a highly scalable design automation tool. The tool will be available through a cloud service where the number of computing cores is elastic and practically limitless. Consumers would be able to have designs of arbitrary size and pay for more or less computing resources depending on how quickly they need the circuit fabricated. Having such a tool would greatly benefit industry and the projects described in this proposal will bring this vision closer to reality and inspire other researchers to pursue a similar goal.**The projects discussed in the proposal have a direct impact on the multi-billion dollar electronic design industry. However, the research also involves topics that are of strategic importance to Canada. This is evidenced by the overlap with NSERC's strategic grants target areas in information and communication technologies that emphasize a close connection with industry and recognize market potential of research, collaboration, technical and financial implications, and realizing value of the research within five years. In particular, the categories of Next Generation Computing Platforms: cloud computing, From Data to Knowledge to Action: unstructured pattern recognition, and advanced applications in artificial intelligence. The proposed research program also has the support of the department and aligns with the University of Calgary's strategic research plans to become a top five Canadian research university by 2016. The proposed research program aligns with the Eyes High strategic vision in the categories of balance, curiosity, collaboration, communication, globalization, and excellence. Taken together, they support programs invested in new lines of inquiry with a global impact and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration.

电子设计自动化领域涉及创建能够使设计电子设备的过程自动化的软件。 电子行业以设计复杂性和最终电路性能的指数增长而闻名[1]。 与此同时，其他领域也在开发新技术来解决难题，例如机器学习、MapReduce编程模型和高性能计算系统。 以下概述的研究计划旨在开发新方法，以使用新技术解决电子设计自动化中的超大规模问题。* 外地面临的主要挑战与规模引起的问题有关。 例如，创建具有数十亿个组件的电路所产生的超大规模问题。 工业界不断感受到压力，需要为竞争激烈的电子产品生产商（包括计算机、手机和平板电脑）快速制造设备。 自动化是能够快速设计的关键，但最具挑战性的设计需要设计师进行大量干预，为每个设计配置软件。 在收敛到满足产品规格的最终设计之前，可能会进行多次设计迭代。 尖端电路的设计过程可能需要几个月到一年多的时间。 因此，这些目标可能无法在生产者的最后期限前实现。 未能在最后期限前完成任务可能会导致巨大损失和未来客户的流失。 这些因素都支持研究以前所未有的规模解决大问题。研究计划的最终目标是开发几个部分，这将是一个高度可扩展的设计自动化工具的开始。 该工具将通过云服务提供，其中计算核心的数量是弹性的，几乎是无限的。 消费者将能够拥有任意大小的设计，并根据他们需要制造电路的速度来支付或多或少的计算资源。 拥有这样一个工具将极大地造福于行业，本提案中描述的项目将使这一愿景更接近现实，并激励其他研究人员追求类似的目标。提案中讨论的项目对数十亿美元的电子设计行业有直接影响。 然而，这项研究也涉及对加拿大具有战略重要性的主题。 这一点可以通过与NSERC在信息和通信技术方面的战略赠款目标领域的重叠来证明，这些领域强调与行业的密切联系，并认识到研究，合作，技术和财务影响的市场潜力，并在五年内实现研究的价值。 特别是，下一代计算平台的类别：云计算，从数据到知识到行动：非结构化模式识别，以及人工智能的高级应用。 拟议的研究计划也得到了部门的支持，并与卡尔加里大学的战略研究计划保持一致，到2016年成为加拿大五大研究型大学。 拟议的研究计划与Eyes High战略愿景在平衡，好奇心，协作，沟通，全球化和卓越等方面保持一致。 总之，他们支持投资于具有全球影响力的新调查路线的计划，并鼓励跨学科合作。