Title:

MINIMALIST: An Environment for the Synthesis, Verification and Testability of Burst-Mode Asynchronous Machines

Author(s):

Fuhrer, Robert M.
Nowick, Steven M.
Theobald, Michael
Jha, Niraj K.
Lin, Bill
Plana, Luis

Date:

1999

Type:

Technical reports

Department:

Computer Science

Permanent URL:

http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:29316

Series:

Columbia University Computer Science Technical Reports

Part Number:

CUCS-020-99

Publisher:

Department of Computer Science, Columbia University

Publisher Location:

New York

Abstract:

MINIMALIST is a new extensible environment for the synthesis and verification of burst-mode asynchronous finite-state machines. MINIMALIST embodies a complete technology-independent synthesis path, with state-of-the-art exact and heuristic asynchronous synthesis algorithms, e.g.optimal state assignment (CHASM), two-level hazard-free logic minimization (HFMIN, ESPRESSO-HF, and IMPYMIN), and synthesis-for-testability. Unlike other asynchronous synthesis packages, MINIMALIST also offers many options:literal vs. product optimization, single- vs. multi-output logic minimization, using vs. not using fed-back outputs as state variables, and exploring varied code lengths during state assignment, thus allowing the designer to explore trade-offs and select the implementation style which best suits the application. MINIMALIST benchmark results demonstrate its ability to produce implementations with an average of 34% and up to 48% less area, and an average of 11% and up to 37% better performance, than the best existing package. Our synthesis-for-testability method guarantees 100% testability under both stuck-at and robust path delay fault models,requiring little or no overhead. MINIMALIST also features both command-line and graphic user interfaces, and supports extension via well-defined interfaces for adding new tools. As such, it is easily augmented to form a complete path to technology-dependent logic.

Subject(s):

Computer science

Item views:

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Metadata:

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