Zebo Peng

System Level Hardware/Software Partitioning Based on Simulated Annealing and Tabu Search

This paper presents two heuristics for automatic hardware/software partitioning of system level specifications. Partitioning is performed at the granularity of blocks, loops, subprograms, and processes with the objective of performance optimization with a limited hardware and software cost. We define the metric values for partitioning and develop a cost function that guides partitioning towards the desired objective. We consider minimization of communication cost and improvement of the overall parallelism as essential criteria during partitioning. Two heuristics for hardware/software partitioning, formulated as a graph partitioning problem, are presented: one based on simulated annealing and the other on tabu search. Results of extensive experiments, including real-life examples, show the clear superiority of the tabu search based algorithm.

Timing analysis of the FlexRay communication protocol

FlexRay will very likely become the de-facto standard for in-vehicle communications. However, before it can be successfully used for safety-critical applications that require predictability, timing analysis techniques are necessary for providing bounds for the message communication times. In this paper, we propose techniques for determining the timing properties of messages transmitted in both the static (ST) and the dynamic (DYN) segments of a FlexRay communication cycle. The analysis techniques for messages are integrated in the context of a holistic schedulability analysis that computes the worst-case response times of all the tasks and messages in the system. We have evaluated the proposed analysis techniques using extensive experiments.

Scheduling of conditional process graphs for the synthesis of embedded systems

We present an approach to process scheduling based on an abstract graph representation which captures both dataflow and the flow of control. Target architectures consist of several processors, ASICs and shared busses. We have developed a heuristic which generates a schedule table so that the worst case delay is minimized. Several experiments demonstrate the efficiency of the approach.

Scheduling with bus access optimization for distributed embedded systems

In this paper, we concentrate on aspects related to the synthesis of distributed embedded systems consisting of programmable processors and application-specific hardware components. The approach is based on an abstract graph representation that captures, at process level, both dataflow and the flow of control. Our goal is to derive a worst case delay by which the system completes execution, such that this delay is as small as possible; to generate a logically and temporally deterministic schedule; and to optimize parameters of the communication protocol such that this delay is guaranteed. We have further investigated the impact of particular communication infrastructures and protocols on the overall performance and, specially, how the requirements of such an infrastructure have to be considered for process and communication scheduling. Not only do particularities of the underlying architecture have to be considered during scheduling but also the parameters of the communication protocol should be adapted to fit the particular embedded application. The optimization algorithm, which implies both process scheduling and optimization of the parameters related to the communication protocol, generates an efficient bus access scheme as well as the schedule tables for activation of processes and communications.

Holistic scheduling and analysis of mixed time/event-triggered distributed embedded systems

This paper deals with specific issues related to the design of distributed embedded systems implemented with mixed, event-triggered and time-triggered task sets, which communicate over bus protocols consisting of both static and dynamic phases. Such systems are emerging as the new standard for automotive applications. We have developed a holistic timing analysis and scheduling approach for this category of systems. We have also identified several new design problems characteristic to such hybrid systems. An example related to bus access optimization in the context of a mixed static/dynamic bus protocol is presented Experimental results prove the efficiency of such an optimization approach.

Design Optimization of Time-and Cost-Constrained Fault-Tolerant Distributed Embedded Systems

In this paper we present an approach to the design optimization of fault tolerant embedded systems for safety-critical applications. Processes are statically scheduled and communications are performed using the time-triggered protocol. We use process re-execution and replication for tolerating transient faults. Our design optimization approach decides the mapping of processes to processors and the assignment of fault-tolerant policies to processes such that transient faults are tolerated and the timing constraints of the application are satisfied. We present several heuristics which are able to find fault-tolerant implementations given a limited amount of resources. The developed algorithms are evaluated using extensive experiments, including a real-life example.

An Integrated Framework for the Design and Optimization of SOC Test Solutions

We propose an integrated framework for the design of SOC test solutions, which includes a set of algorithms for early design space exploration as well as extensive optimization for the final solution. The framework deals with test scheduling, test access mechanism design, test sets selection, and test resource placement. Our approach minimizes the test application time and the cost of the test access mechanism while considering constraints on tests and power consumption. The main feature of our approach is that it provides an integrated design environment to treat several different tasks at the same time, which were traditionally dealt with as separate problems. We have made an implementation of the proposed heuristic used for the early design space exploration and an implementation based on Simulated Annealing for the extensive optimization. Experiments on several benchmarks and industrial designs show the usefulness and efficiency of our approach.

Automated transformation of algorithms into register-transfer level implementations

This paper describes a high-level synthesis system, called CAMAD, for transforming algorithms into hardware implementation structures at register-transfer level. The algorithms are used to specify the behaviors of the hardware to be designed. They are first translated into a formal representation model which is based on timed Petri nets and consists of separate but related descriptions of control and data path. The formal model is used as an intermediate design representation and supports an iterative transformation approach to high-level synthesis. The basic idea is that once the behavioral specification is translated into the initial design representation, it can be viewed as a primitive implementation. Correctness-preserving transformations are then used to successively transform the initial design into an efficient implementation. Selection of transformations is guided by an optimization strategy which makes design decisions concerning operation scheduling, data path allocation, and control allocation simultaneously. The integration of these several synthesis subtasks has resulted in a better chance to reach the globally optimal solution. Experimental results show that our approach produces improved register-transfer designs, especially in the cases when the designed hardware consists of data paths and control logics that are tightly coupled. >

An integrated system-on-chip test framework

In this paper we propose a framework for the testing of system-on-chip (SOC), which includes a set of design algorithms to deal with test scheduling, test access mechanism design, test sets selection, test parallelization, and test resource placement. The approach minimizes the test application time and the cost of the test access mechanism while considering constraints on tests, power consumption and test resources. The main feature of our approach is that it provides an integrated design environment to treat several different tasks at the same time, which were traditionally dealt with as separate problems. Experimental results shows the efficiency and the usefulness of the proposed technique.

Overhead-conscious voltage selection for dynamic and leakage energy reduction of time-constrained systems

Dynamic voltage scaling and adaptive body biasing have been shown to reduce dynamic and leakage power consumption effectively. In this paper, we optimally solve the combined supply voltage and body bias selection problem for multi-processor systems with imposed time constraints, explicitly taking into account the transition overheads implied by changing voltage levels. Both energy and time overheads are considered. We investigate the continuous voltage scaling as well as its discrete counterpart, and we prove NP-hardness in the discrete case. Furthermore, the continuous voltage scaling problem is formulated and solved using nonlinear programming with polynomial time complexity, while for the discrete problem we use mixed integer linear programming. Extensive experiments, conducted on several benchmarks and a real-life example, are used to validate the approaches.