VASS - A VLSI ARRAY SYSTEM SYNTHESIZER

This paper presents a computer-aided design environment called VASS, w hich assists the VLSI array design. It applies a systematic methodolog y to synthesize a competitive array system from a behavioral descripti on. Special features include the multiple projection and the two level pipeline techniques. Several crucial issues are considered and some p ractical solutions are incorporated into VASS. For example, an effecti ve approach is used to transport all the interior I/O to the boundarie s of the array. Besides, VASS can generate a kind of control signals, called tags, which propagate with data through the whole array to spec ify the appropriate functions of each processing element at the approp riate time step. Also, based on the inherent characteristics of the sy stolic algorithms, a high level synthesis method is proposed to facili tate the datapath generation of processing elements in the resultant a rray. The automatic specification of control signals and datapath gene ration of the processing elements render VASS a complete VLSI array sy stem synthesizer. With VASS, one can quickly inspect various array imp lementations for an algorithm and iteratively improve them to meet the demands of an application-specific VLSI array system.