What is ArchFP?
ArchFP is a simple, easy to use, floorplanning tool targeted towards prototyping of pre-RTL CMP design concepts.
As such, it is complementary to traditional floorplanners that are more appropriate later in the design cycle.
An ArchFP floorplan is specified using a model similar to that supported by GUI toolkits such as Java Swing and
Windows Presentation Foundation. The user designs the floorplan in C++ by creating a hierarchy of HW components
placed within containers, called Layout Managers (LMs), which provide a variety of layout algorithms. Current LMs
include a generalized grid LM, one that supports geographic hints for component placement, and an LM used to
import subcomponents. ArchFP is easy to extend with additional LMs that leverage the built-in layout algorithms
to support more specific design elements such as NoC configurations, cache partitioning strategies, SIMD design, etc.
ArchFP produces and consumes HotSpot floorplan format files.
For more information, see our tech report here or our VLSI-SoC 2012 paper here .
Example Floorplans and Source Code
