The time has come for high-level synthesis. When research into synthesizing hardware from abstract, program-like de­ scriptions started in the early 1970' s, there was no automated path from the register­ transfer design produced by high-level synthesis to a complete hardware imple­ mentation. As a result, it was very difficult to measure the effectiveness of high­ level synthesis methods; it was also hard to justify to users the need to automate architecture design when low-level design had to be completed manually. Today's more mature CAD techniques help close the gap between an automat­ ically synthesized design and a manufacturable design. Market pressures encour­ age designers to make use of any and all automated tools. Layout synthesis, logic synthesis, and specialized datapath generators make it feasible to quickly imple­ ment a register-transfer design in silicon,leaving designers more time to consider architectural improvements. As IC design becomes more automated, customers are increasing their demands; today's leading edge designers using logic synthesis systems are training themselves to be tomorrow's consumers of high-level synthe­ sis systems. The need for very fast turnaround, a competitive fabrication market WhlCh makes small-quantity ASIC manufacturing possible, and the ever growing co:n­ plexity of the systems being designed, all make higher-level design automaton inevitable.

Inhalt

1. Essential Issues and Possible Solutions in High-Level Synthesis.- 2. Architectural Synthesis for Medium and High Throughput Signal Processing with the new CATHEDRAL environment.- 3. PYSIN - High-Level Synthesis of Application Specific Pipelined Hardware.- 4. The IBM High-Level Synthesis System.- 5. MICON: Automated Design of Computer Systems.- 6. Cyber: High Level Synthesis System from Software into ASIC.- 7. Specification and Synthesis of Interface Logic.- 8. Synthesis of ASICs with Hercules and Hebe.- 9. Synthesis from Pure Behavioral Descriptions.- 10. Architectural Optimization Methods for Control-Dominated Machines.- 11. Global Scheduling and Allocation Algorithms in the HAL System.- 12. High-Level Synthesis in the THEDA System.- 13. Industrial Uses of the System Architect's Workbench.- 14. Unified System Construction (USC).- 15. Scheduling and Assignment in High Level Synthesis.