Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Hardware Engineering
Abstraction
RTL Models
Digital Design
Design Productivity
From Physical Devices to RTL Models: Abstraction and Validation in Hardware Engineering
🤖 AI Summary
This study addresses the inherent challenge in hardware design of balancing complexity management with model accuracy. To this end, it proposes an abstraction-centric methodology that associates discretization techniques with pre-clustered elements, such as transistors. By integrating lumped modeling, value discretization, and time discretization, the approach establishes a well-defined hierarchy of abstractions. The primary contribution of this work is a standardized design methodology that enhances productivity by simplifying model complexity and improving simulation efficiency while defining effective constraints. Consequently, this framework significantly strengthens the capacity to manage complex systems in digital design, thereby advancing overall engineering productivity.
📝 Abstract
This paper introduces the foundational principles underlying hardware engineering models and argues that abstraction is their defining characteristic. Because abstraction necessarily omits detail and constrains what engineers can build, models are inherently incomplete in specific respects - or, as George Box famously observed, "All models are wrong, but some are useful". At the same time, abstraction is essential for simplification, which is key to managing complexity. More abstract models also tend to simulate faster because fewer details must be considered.
This paper subsequently examines a range of abstraction methods in digital design - sometimes referred to as design disciplines - including lumped models, value-discrete models, and time-discrete models. Together with constraints that define the validity of the abstraction and design guidelines, these abstraction methods establish design disciplines. This paper further relates these forms of abstraction to pre-clustered design elements such as transistors, gates, registers, and transfer functions. These pre-clustered elements define abstraction levels, such as the gate level, and are presented as a key enabler of increased design productivity.
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Hardware Abstraction
RTL Models
Design Disciplines
Pre-clustered Elements
Digital Design
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