New architectures and computer-aided design algorithms for programmable logic

计算机芯片的开发通常需要进入芯片制造工厂。进入这样一个工厂的成本是大多数中小型加拿大电子公司无法承受的。在提出的研究中，我们专注于构建计算机芯片的另一种方法：使用现场可编程门阵列（FPGA）。FPGA是一种预先制造的芯片，可以在几秒钟内配置，以实现几乎任何电子电路。一旦配置好，这些设备就可以包含在诸如通信设备、计算机和消费设备等电子设备中。与制造芯片相比，使用FPGA会导致较慢的电路（大约慢3倍）。此外，只有大约1/20的电路可以安装在定制芯片上，可以安装在FPGA上。这使得fpga不适合许多应用。提出的研究目标是改进fpga的结构，使它们更快，能够包含更多的电路。如果成功，这将使更多的公司比以往任何时候都能使用这些设备，使他们能够更便宜、更快地创造出有竞争力的产品。除了改进FPGA的结构外，我们还将改进设计人员用于在FPGA上实现电路的计算机程序。这些程序中使用的算法的质量对FPGA有效实现电路的能力有重要影响。

The development of computer chips normally requires access to a chip fabrication plant. The cost of accessing such a plant is out-of-reach for most small and medium-sized Canadian electronics companies. In the proposed research, we focus on an alternate way of building computer chips: using a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). An FPGA is a pre-manufactured chip which can be configured, in seconds, to implement virtually any electronic circuit. Once configured, these devices can be included in electronic devices such as communication equipment, computers, and consumer devices. Compared to fabricating a chip, using an FPGA leads to slower circuits (about 3x slower). In addition, only about 1/20 of the circuitry that can fit onto a custom chip will fit onto an FPGA. This makes FPGAs unsuitable for many applications. The goal of the proposed research is to improve the structure of FPGAs to make them faster and capable of containing more circuitry. If successful, this will allow many more companies to use these devices than ever before, allowing them to create competitive products cheaper and faster. In addition to improving the structure of FPGAs, we will also improve the computer programs that a designer uses to implement circuits on an FPGA. These quality of the algorithms used in these programs has a significant effect on the ability of the FPGA to implement circuitry efficiently.