Design of Energy-Efficient Application-Specific Instruction Set Processors

• Main Authors: Glökler, Tilman (Author), Meyr, Heinrich (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA : Springer US, 2004.
• Subjects: Engineering.; Microprocessors.; Computer-aided engineering.; Electrical engineering.; Electronic circuits.; Electrical Engineering.; Computer-Aided Engineering (CAD, CAE) and Design.; Circuits and Systems.; Processor Architectures.

 After a brief introduction to low-power VLSI design, the design space of ASIP instruction set architectures (ISAs) is introduced with a special focus on important features for digital signal processing. Based on the degrees of freedom offered by this design space, a consistent ASIP design flow is proposed: this design flow starts with a given application and uses incremental optimization of the ASIP hardware, of ASIP coprocessors and of the ASIP software by using a top-down approach and by applying application-specific modifications on all levels of design hierarchy. A broad range of real-world signal processing applications serves as vehicle to illustrate each design decision and provides a hands-on approach to ASIP design. Finally, two complete case studies demonstrate the feasibility and the efficiency of the proposed methodology and quantitatively evaluate the benefits of ASIPs in an industrial context. 

 Focus and Related Work -- Efficient Low-Power Hardware Design -- Application-Specific Processor Architectures -- The ASIP Design Flow -- The ASIP Design Environment -- Case Studies -- Summary.