REVIEW: This DAC '97 paper offers good insight into the issues
surrounding low power ASIC design. Although the power
management methodology proposed by Frenkil is not discussed at
the level it deserves, it offers a peek into how to effectively tackle
power management in a systemic way.
Frenkil begins with a quick primer on the sources of power
consumption in circuits and how they are measured, then promptly
dives into a useful review of the EDA tools available to manage power
at four distinct design levels: transistor, gate, RTL and system. The
key benefits of tools from Synopsys, Mentor Graphics, Epic, Sente
and others are identified.
The author then proposes a power management methodology that
addresses power optimization and management at all levels of the
design. First illustrating the difference between power management
and optimization, Frenkil goes on to describe the feed-forward
approach to managing power. By contrasting it with the classical
feed-backward approach, he makes a compelling, simple case: the
feed-forward approach yields better power management results much
earlier than traditional approaches.
Frenkil's paper is a good read for anyone considering tackling serious
power management challenges. |
