Masao Yanagisawa

FCSCAN: an efficient multiscan-based test compression technique for test cost reduction

This paper proposes a new multiscan-based test input data compression technique by employing a fan-out compression scan architecture (FCSCAN) for test cost reduction. The basic idea of FCSCAN is to target the minority specified 1 or 0 bits (either 1 or 0) in scan slices for compression. Due to the low specified bit density in test cube set, FCSCAN can significantly reduce input test data volume and the number of required test channels so as to reduce test cost. The FCSCAN technique is easy to be implemented with small hardware overhead and does not need any special ATPG for test generation. In addition, based on the theoretical compression efficiency analysis, improved procedures are also proposed for the FCSCAN to achieve further compression. Experimental results on both benchmark circuits and one real industrial design indicate that drastic reduction in test cost can be indeed achieved.

A thread partitioning algorithm in low power high-level synthesis

This paper proposes a thread partitioning algorithm in low power high-level synthesis. The algorithm is applied to high-level synthesis systems. In the systems, we can describe parallel behaving circuit blocks(threads) explicitly. First it focuses on a local register file RF in a thread. It partitions a thread into two sub-threads, one of which has RF and the other does not have RF. The partitioned sub-threads need to be synchronized with each other to keep the data dependency of the original thread. Since the partitioned sub-threads have waiting time for synchronization, gated clocks can be applied to each sub-thread. Then we can synthesize a low power circuit with a low area overhead, compared to the original circuit. Experimental results demonstrate effectiveness and efficiency of the algorithm.

A reconfigurable adaptive FEC system for reliable wireless communications

This work proposes a reconfigurable adaptive FEC system. For adaptive FEC schemes, we can implement an FEC decoder which is optimal for error correction capability (t) by taking the number of operations into consideration. Reconfiguring the optimal FEC decoder dynamically for each t allows us to maximize the throughput of each decoder within a limited hardware resource. Our system can reduce packet dropping rate more efficiently than conventional fixed hardware systems for a reliable transport protocol.

An interface-circuit synthesis method with configurable processor core in IP-based SoC designs

In SoC designs, efficient communication between the hardware IPs and the on-chip processor becomes very important; however the interface is usually affected by the processor core specification. Thus in this paper, we focus on developing an efficient interface circuit architecture for the communications between the on-chip processor and embedded hardware IP cores, we also propose a method to synthesize it. Experimental results show that our method could obtain optimal interface circuits and works well through designing a MPEG-4 encode application.

A cosynthesis algorithm for application specific processors with heterogeneous datapaths

This paper proposes a hardware/software cosynthesis algorithm for processors with heterogeneous registers. Given a CDFG corresponding to an application program and a timing constraint, the algorithm generates a processor configuration minimizing area of the processor and an assembly code on the processor. First, the algorithm configures a datapath which can execute several DFG nodes with data dependency at one cycle. The datapath can execute the application program at the least number of cycles. The branch and bound algorithm is applied and all the number of functional units and memory banks are tried. For an assumed number of functional units and memory banks, an appropriate number of heterogeneous registers and connections to functional units and registers are explored. The experimental results show effectiveness and efficiency of the algorithm.

Instruction set and functional unit synthesis for SIMD processor cores

This paper focuses on SIMD processor synthesis and proposes a SIMD instruction set/functional unit synthesis algorithm. Given an initial assembly code and a timing constraint, the proposed algorithm synthesizes an area-optimized processor core with optimal SIMD functional units. It also synthesizes a SIMD instruction set. The input initial assembly code is assumed to run on a full-resource SIMD processor (virtual processor) which has all the possible SIMD functional units. In our algorithm, we introduce the SIMD operation decomposition and apply it to the initial assembly code and the full-resource SIMD processor. By gradually reducing SIMD operations or decomposing SIMD operations, we can finally find a processor core with small area under the given timing constraint. The promising experimental results are also shown.

A fast elliptic curve cryptosystem LSI embedding word-based montgomery multiplier

Elliptic curve cryptosystems are expected to be a next standard of public-key cryptosystems. A security level of elliptic curve cryptosystems depends on a difficulty of a discrete logarithm problem on elliptic curves. The security level of a elliptic curve cryptosystem which has a public-key of 160-bit is equivalent to that of a RSA system which has a public-key of 1024-bit. We propose an elliptic curve cryptosystem LSI architecture embedding word-based Montgomery multipliers. A Montgomery multiplication is an efficient method for a finite field multiplication. We can design a scalable architecture for an elliptic curve cryptosystem by selecting structure of word-based Montgomery multipliers. Experimental results demonstrate effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed architecture. In the hardware evaluation using 0.18 μm CMOS library, the high-speed design using 126 Kgates with 20 x 8-bit multipliers achieved operation times of 3.6 ms for a 160-bit point multiplication.

Sub-operation parallelism optimization in SIMD processor synthesis and its experimental evaluations

In this paper, we propose a sub-operation parallelism optimization algorithm in SIMD processor synthesis. Given an initial assembly code and timing constraints, our algorithm synthesizes a processor core with sub-operation parallelism optimization for SIMD functional units. First we consider an initial processor which has sufficient hardware units for executing an initial assembly code. An initial processor core includes the maximum sub-operation parallelism for each SIMD functional unit. By gradually reducing sub-operation parallelism, we can finally have a processor core with small area meeting given timing constraints. We show the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm through experimental results.

A processor core synthesis system in IP-based SoC design

This paper proposes a new design methodology for SoCs reusing hardware IPs. In our approach, after system-level HW/SW partitioning, we use IPs for hardware parts, but synthesize a new processor core instead of reusing a processor core IP. System performs efficient parallel execution of hardware and software by taking account of a response time of hardware IP obtained by the proposed calculation algorithm. We can use optimal hardware IPs selected by the proposed hardware IPs selection algorithm. The experimental results show effectiveness of our new design methodology.

A SIMD Instruction Set and Functional Unit Synthesis Algorithm with SIMD Operation Decomposition

This paper focuses on SIMD processor synthesis and proposes a SIMD instruction set/functional unit synthesis algorithm. Given an initial assembly code and a timing constraint, the proposed algorithm synthesizes an area-optimized processor core with optimal SIMD functional units. It also synthesizes a SIMD instruction set. The input initial assembly code is assumed to run on a full-resource SIMD processor (virtual processor) which has all the possible SIMD functional units. In our algorithm, we introduce the SIMD operation decomposition and apply it to the initial assembly code and the full-resource SIMD processor. By gradually reducing SIMD operations or decomposing SIMD operations, we can finally find a processor core with small area under the given timing constraint. The promising experimental results are also shown.