Name
Abstract | ||
|---|---|---|
Architectural advances of modern systems has often been at odds with control complexity, requiring significant ef- fort in both design and verification. This is particularly true for sequential controllers, where machine complexity can quickly surpass designer ability. Traditional solutions to this problem require elaborate specifications that are dif- ficult to maintain and extend. Further, the logic generated from these specifications bares no resemblance to the in- tended behavior and often fails to meet design performance constraints. In the process of designing a multi-threaded, dynamically-pipelined microcontroller, we encountered a num- ber of common difficulties that arise from the inadequacies of traditional pipeline design methodologies. Through the use of a novel nondeterministic finite automata (NFA) spec- ification model, we were able to implement an extensible control structure with minimal design effort. In this paper we present a viable pipeline controller specification method- ology using the pyPBS language, which enables minimal effort control partitioning and compact behavioral repre- sentation. The structure of the language encourages de- sign decisions that promote efficient modular constructions which can be easily integrated and extended. We present an overview of the our methodology including background on the pyPBS synthesis model, an architectural overview of our multi-threaded microcontroller, and implementation details for the control structure of the design including the com- plete control specifications. In addition, we show that the applicative nature of the pyPBS language allows for addition of a multi-cycle multiplication unit with minimal effort. |
Year | DOI | Venue |
|---|---|---|
2006 | 10.1145/1176760.1176800 | Compilers, Architecture, and Synthesis for Embedded Systems |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
complete control specification,extensible control structure,traditional pipeline design methodology,extensible control architecture,minimal effort control partitioning,design decision,minimal design effort,control structure,control architecture,pypbs language,control complexity,design performance constraint,specification methodology,design methodology,nondeterministic finite automata | Control theory,Programming language,Nondeterministic finite automaton,Computer science,Parallel computing,Real-time computing,Multiplication,Microcontroller,Modular design,Extensibility,Control complexity | Conference |
ISBN | Citations | PageRank |
1-59593-543-6 | 1 | 0.36 |
References | Authors | |
12 | 3 | |
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Hoover | 1 | 19 | 2.99 |
| Forrest Brewer | 2 | 414 | 62.95 |
| Timothy Sherwood | 3 | 1921 | 123.28 |