A solution methodology for exact design space exploration in athree-dimensional design space

摘要

This paper describes an exact solution methodology, implemented innRensselaer's Voyager design space exploration system, for solving thenscheduling problem in a three-dimensional (3-D) design space: the usualntwo-dimensional (2-D) design space (which trades off area and schedulenlength), plus a third dimension representing clock length. Unlike designnspace exploration methodologies which rely on bounds or estimates, thisnmethodology is guaranteed to find the globally optimal solution to a 3-Dnscheduling problem. Furthermore, this methodology efficiently prunes thensearch space, eliminating provably inferior design points through thenfollowing: 1) a careful selection of candidate clock lengths and 2)ntight bounds on the number of functional units or on the schedulenlength. Both chaining and multicycle operations are supported