High-Level Modeling and Synthesis of Analog Integrated Systems

As the miniaturization of semiconductor technology continues, electronic s- tems on chips o?er a more extensive and more complex functionality with better performance, higher frequencies and less power consumption. Whereas digital designers can take full advantage of the availability of design auto- tiontoolstobuildhugesystems,thelackofsupportbycomputerprogramsfor di?erent abstraction levels makes analog design a time-consuming handcraft which limits the possibilities to implement large systems. Various approaches for?ndingoptimalvaluesfortheparametersofanalogcells,likeopamps,have been investigated since the mid-1980s, and they have made their entrance in commercial applications. However, a larger impact on the performance is - pected if tools are developed which operate on a higher abstraction level and consider multiple architectural choices to realize a particular functionality. In this book, the opportunities, conditions, problems, solutions and systematic methodologies for this new generation of analog CAD tools are examined. Theoutlineofthisbookisasfollows. Inthe?rstpart,thecharacteristicsof the analog design process are systematically analyzed and several approaches for automated analog synthesis are summarized. Comparison of their prop- ties with the requirements for high-level synthesis of analog and mixed-signal systems results in a new design paradigm: the high-level design ?ow based on generic behavior. This design approach involves a modeling strategy using generic behavioral models and a synthesis strategy leading to the exploration of a heterogeneous design space containing di?erent architectures. The modeling strategy is further elaborated in Part II.

From the reviews:

"Here is a book of moderate size … very rich in information (multum in parvo) on a new and actual domain ‘Analog and Mixed Systems (AMS)’. … The book is written at a high mathematical and abstraction level … . This volume will be an excellent support to research and design engineers working in AMS. It is a beautiful example of the power of mathematical tools in industrial problems." (Dumitru Stanomir, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1156, 2009)

Ewout S.J. MARTENS obtained the MsC and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium in 2001 and 2007, respectively. For his PhD work, he has been awarded a research fellowship from the Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) of Flanders, Belgium. Currently, he is working as a research assistant at the ESAT–MICAS laboratories of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

His research interests are in the development of systematic techniques and methodologies suited for implementation in analog CAD tools. Specific research topics include the modeling of A-to-D converters and of RF front-end architectures, and the high-level synthesis and architectural exploration of analog and mixedsignal systems. Several results have been described in various papers published in international journals and presented at multiple international conferences. He also is a member of the Program Committee of the DATE conference.

Georges G.E. GIELEN received the MSc and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, in 1986 and 1990, respectively. In 1990, he was appointed as a postdoctoral research assistant and visiting lecturer at the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the University of California, Berkeley. From 1991 to 1993, he was a postdoctoral research assistant of the Belgian National Fund of Scientific Research at the ESAT laboratory of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 1993, he was appointed assistant professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where he promoted to full professor in 2000.

His research interests are in the design of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits, and especially in analog and mixed-signal CAD tools and design automation (modeling, simulation and symbolic analysis, analog synthesis, analog layout generation, analog and mixed-signal testing). He is coordinator or partner of several (industrial) research projects in thisarea, including several European projects (EU, MEDEA, ESA). He has authored or coauthored five books and more than 300 papers in edited books, international journals and conference proceedings. He regularly is a member of the Program Committees of international conferences (DAC, ICCAD, ISCAS, DATE, CICC...), and served as General Chair of the DATE conference in 2006. He serves regularly as member of editorial boards of international journals (IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, Springer international journal on Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing, Elsevier Integration). He received the 1995 Best Paper Award in the John Wiley international journal on Circuit Theory and Applications, and was the 1997 Laureate of the Belgian Royal Academy on Sciences, Literature and Arts in the discipline of Engineering. He received the 2000 Alcatel Award from the Belgian National Fund of Scientific Research for his innovative research in telecommunications, and won the DATE 2004 Best Paper Award. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, served as elected member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Circuits And Systems (CAS) society and as chairman of the IEEE Benelux CAS chapter. He served as the President of the IEEE Circuits And Systems (CAS) Society in 2005. He was elected DATE Fellow in 2007, and received the IEEE Computer Society Outstanding Contribution Award and the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Meritorious Service Award in 2007.