Performance Macromodeling for Synthesis of Electronic Systems

University Of Cincinnati Main Campus, Cincinnati OH

Investigators

Abstract

PROPOSAL NO: 0429717 INSTITUTION: University of Cincinnati Main Campus PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Vemuri, Ranga TITLE: Performance Macromodeling for Synthesis of Electronic Systems Any engineering design process consists of two broad activities: Analysis and Synthesis. Analysis is the process of predicting the performance of a given design. Synthesis is the process of proposing alternative designs. During any real-world design process, analysis and synthesis tasks are carried out repeatedly until a suitable design is found. Computer-aided design systems use synthesis software which generates a large number of designs each of which is analyzed by an analysis software module. For this process to converge to an acceptable design in a reasonable time, the analysis processes must be fast and accurate. Traditional analysis methods use simulation of the design using detailed models of the design building blocks. Unfortunately, this approach, while fairly accurate, is quite slow for use in conjunction with automated design systems. An alternative is to use performance macromodels which are fast, but tend to be less accurate. This research addresses the problem of developing fast, yet accurate, performance macromodels. Although this research will use applications in electronics design to guide the research direction and to evaluate the research results, the techniques developed will be broadly useful across any engineering design discipline. Thus, this research has the potential to make significant contributions to the development of efficient software systems for fully automated engineering design.