Design representation in CAD tools (session overview)

ABSTRACT

Design is an evolutionary process which transforms a set of requirements into a working, manufacturable product. To mechanically assist this process, a design must be represented in one or more formal languages which unambiguously convey the intent of the engineer to (and between) the design tools. This session addresses the relationship of computer aided design (CAD) tools for digital systems and design representation. There are three papers in this session and each discusses a facet of the representation problem. Drongowski. A qualitative theory for design representation is presented which provides an overview for the other papers. The discussion focuses on the importance of formal semantics for representation and problems in the translation from one representation to another. Bammi. In this work, a behavioral hardware description language, ISP', is extended to include structural information (e.g., the interconnection of registers, combinatorial logic, control, etc.) The application of the language to synthesis is discussed. Iyengar. Representation is an especially critical issue in the application of expert systems to CAD. This paper explores the representation and rule base for an expert system that synthesizes combinational logic. This work is being applied to the development of a logic synthesis system called Agent which takes a register transfer level description to a control graph and coarse grain datapath network.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  A. General Literature

General Terms:
Documentation