Erik Markert

SystemC-AMS Assisted Design of an Inertial Navigation System

This paper presents an approach for modeling and realization of an inertial navigation system. This system consists of two new 2-D acceleration sensor arrays, three gyroscopes, digital error correction, gravitation compensation, supporting point inclusion, and software application. Modeling is achieved using SystemC-AMS for analog parts and SystemC for digital and software components. The model is simulated and verified by stimulating with different accelerations and rotations representing sensor movements

Modeling of a new 2D Acceleration Sensor Array using SystemC-AMS

This paper presents an approach for modeling and simulation of a new 2D acceleration sensor array using SystemC-AMS. The sensor array consists of six single acceleration sensors with different detection axes. These single sensors comprise of four capacitive segments and one mass segment, aligned in a semicircle. The redundant sensor information is used for offset correction. Modeling of the single sensors is achieved using sensor structure simplification into 11 points and analytic equations for capacity changes, currents and torques. This model was expanded by a PWM feedback circuit to keep the sensor displacement in a linear region. In this paper the single sensor model is duplicated considering different positions of the seismic mass resulting in different detection axes for the single sensors. The measured accelerations of the sensors are merged with different weights depending on the orientation. This also reduces calculation effort.

A platform for requirement based formal specification

Formal executable specification is one in the ITRS 2007 design report proposed solution to handle future design challenges. Specifications have to be checked for completeness and consistence. Furthermore, it is desirable to support later design steps by generating descriptions for simulation and synthesis, properties for simulative and formal verification and testing scripts. This can be achieved by using formal specification. During development the results of the design steps have to be fed back in the specification tool in order to track changes and the progress of the development. In this paper we present a specification tool which combines formal specification with requirements engineering to achieve a consistent and traceable specification.

Demonstration of an in-band reconfiguration data distribution and network node reconfiguration

This paper describes the implementation of an FPGA prototype of an application based on embedded ASIC technology. The overall goal is to implement a system that can monitor an Ethernet data stream and extracts configuration data marked by the EtherType field in the Ethernet header. For evaluation the application is implemented on a prototype consisting of two XILINX FPGA boards. Since the target platform is an ASIC with embedded reconfigurable architectures the prototype is divided in the corresponding parts. One board emulates the embedded reconfigurable architecture that contains the Ethernet MAC. Ethernet packets can reconfigure this MAC. The second board emulates the static part of the application that controls the reconfiguration process.

Optimized ASIC/FPGA design flow for energy efficient network nodes

This paper describes the ENERSAVE research project, which is funded by the German ministry of research. The project target is a 30 percent power reduction for network nodes via introduction of a holistic, energy-aware design flow for application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and field programmable gate array (FPGA) design. Using todays state of the art design methods, advanced calculation of system power budgets is a major challenge since current methods do not offer sufficient means for supporting energy awareness and efficiency throughout the complete component design process. The ENERSAVE project is developing a methodology to support power awareness and provides the ability to target power constraints from the system level all the way down to the silicon. It introduces formal tools for power optimizations and demonstrates, on an optical transmission system card, how using this new design methodology enables the envisioned power target to be achieved. The paper presents methodology improvement results to date and offers a preview of expected demonstrable results by project completion in 2014.

An in-band reconfigurable network node based on a heterogeneous platform

This paper describes the implementation of a heterogeneous network node as a reconfigurable application based on embedded ASIC technology. The key points of the paper are the distribution of the reconfiguration data in-band over the network and the in-service-reconfiguration of the network node itself. The node consists of a static ASIC part and three reconfigurable various-grained FPGA-like areas included in one chip. The overall goal is to implement a system that can monitor an Ethernet data stream, extracts configuration data marked by the EtherType field in the Ethernet header and updates its functionality during operation time.

Ultra low power flash ADC for UWB transceiver applications

In this paper a low power, 4-bit, 50 MHz flash ADC in 130nm technology is presented. Power consumption is the most important objective in this ADC. Two blocks, S/H and Latch, can be omitted in this ADC because of the comparator and encoder structures. Flash ADC has a peak SNDR of 23.47dB at Nyquist frequency while the power consumption is 130μW with a binary code encoder. This reduces to 115μW if output data are in Gray code. The proposed ADC achieves 0.1625 pJ per conversion-step if the output is binary.

Piezoresistance of Single Walled Carbon Nanotube in VHDL-AMS

Ver.1.0 07.03.2015 This tutorial deals with the model development of the piezoresistance of Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) as components at system level design. The framework VHDL-AMS (virtual hardware description language) is used for implementation and simulation. It is based on compact models to describe the components performing heterogeneous functions. The mechanical and electronical compact submodels of SWCNTs are based on the analytical models and lumped element models. The tutorial presents important aspects in developing these system models and the necessary parameters in creating those models. The developed models can be used for the design of SWCNT based mechanical sensors and for co-simulation with any other system environment or complex electronic circuit.

Fuzzy logic based energy management algorithm of a hybrid electric vehicle with range-extender

In this paper, fuzzy logic is used in the energy management system of a battery based vehicle with a fuel cell range extender. A fuzzy logic controller is built, and special rules based on the performance of battery and fuel cell system are defined. A simple energy system model is implemented in Matlab/Simulink and the result is given.

Optimal component selection for energy-efficient systems

Microelectronics have developed very fast in the past. The design process of those systems is getting more and more complex and new design methods have to be applied continuously. One main observation is the increasing design level over time, hence, the re-use of components is getting more important. A key challenge of IC design is the selection of a system architecture which fulfills all requirements in terms of data throughput, area, timing, power and cost. In this paper, we present a a problem class for the optimal component selection in order to assist in selecting the best available alternatives. We will show how to express top-level constraints and optimisation targets including dependencies between components. In addition, heuristic solving algorithms will be presented. The evaluation section shows that the presented algorithms perform well on typical problem sets.