ArchFP


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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



This work was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation under grants CRI-0551630 and MCDA-0903471 and by the Semiconductor Research Corporation under GRC task 1972.

Last updated: 3 Feb., 2019

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