Exploitation of Asynchronous Circuit Technologies

OMI/EXACT - 6143

Keywords asynchronous circuits, DSP

Start Date: 01-JUL-92 / Duration: 36 months

[ contact / participants ]

Objectives

The objective of EXACT is to demonstrate that asynchronous circuit techniques (ie circuits that do not use a clock) can be exploited to:

• reduce power consumption in microsystems applied to digital signal and data processing.
• specify and design high-performance I/O interface circuits between both synchronous and asynchronous VLSI subsystems.

The specific goals of the EXACT project are to contribute to solving the energy consumption/dissipation problem in digital data and signal processing; to develop novel techniques and tools for system interfacing; to show that asynchronous circuits can be built in a disciplined way; and to demonstrate the claimed power-saving properties in a commercially relevant application.

The approach is to:

• compare the micropipeline and handshake-circuit architectures, and to investigate the possibility of blending these two styles
• develop design techniques and CAD tools for the automatic synthesis of asynchronous control circuits for interface applications (the commercial exploitation of these tools will be investigated as well)
• design and manufacture two demonstrator circuits:
  • an I2C I/O expander (Philips PCF 8574)
  • an error detector based on DCC (Digital Compact Cassette) specifications in order to demonstrate the feasibility and low power potential of the methods.

Progress and Results

The major results so far are: benchmark circuits to compare the various approaches to asynchronous circuit design; a prototype compiler for asynchronous interface control circuits; several asynchronous implementations of the I2C I/O expander; and a formal specification and prototype silicon for the DCC error detector (consuming only 2.5 mW, 80% less than the synchronous IC).

Further information about EXACT is available from the EXACT home page.

CONTACT POINT

Ir Cornelis Van Berkel
NEDERLANDSE PHILIPS BEDRIJVEN BV
Prof. Holstlaan 4
NL - 5656 AA EINDHOVEN
tel: + 31/ 40-74 36 98
fax: + 31/ 40-74 46 17
telex: 35000 PHTC NL

Participants

NEDERLANDSE PHILIPS BEDRIJVEN BV - NL - C
INTERUNIVERSITAIR MICRO-
ELECTRONICA CENTRUM - B - P
UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER - UK - P
EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT CENTRE - B - P
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN - NL - A
SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY - UK - A

OMI/EXACT - 6143, December 1993

please address enquiries to the ESPRIT Information Desk

html version of synopsis by Nick Cook