Lecture 7, Project CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011CS250 VLSI Systems DesignLecture 7: Project DetailsJohn Wawrzynek, Krste AsanovicwithJohn LazzaroandBrian ZimmerCS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectEngineering Challenge2PhysicsApplicationGap usually too large to bridge in one step, but there are exceptions...CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectMagnetic Compass3PhysicsApplicationCS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectDesign Abstraction Stack4PhysicsValence BandConduction BandEgDevices (Transistors)poxin nCircuitsGatesRegister-Transfer Level (RTL)Unit-Transaction Level (UTL)ApplicationLecture 7, Project CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Properties of a Useful Abstraction5‣Hides less important details‣e.g., for RTL, don’t worry how combinational logic is decomposed into logic gates‣Allows control of more important details‣e.g., RTL designer still controls how much logic is performed between any two registers‣If done right, provides portable efficiency‣i.e., same RTL can be implemented as custom logic, standard cells, FPGA, or even vacuum-tube logic, with reasonably good resultsCS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectDesign Abstraction Stack6PhysicsValence BandConduction BandEgDevices (Transistors)poxin nCircuitsGatesRegister-Transfer Level (RTL)Unit-Transaction Level (UTL)ApplicationFor complex applications that talk to internet and provide user interfaces - these steps are way too largeLecture 7, Project CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Software-Centric MP-SoCs7‣Almost all devices based on large ASICs need to run sophisticated software‣MP-SoC (Multiprocessor System-on-a-Chip) already standard in many devices‣smartphones, music players, set-top boxes, games consoles, digital cameras, internet routers, cars, ...‣Typical ASIC team ratios:‣1 Hardware designer per‣2 verification engineers per‣6 software engineersCS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectManycore, a new abstraction layer?8PhysicsDevices (Transistors)CircuitsGatesRegister-Transfer Level (RTL)Manycore System (UTL)Parallel Application ProgramOperating SystemLecture 7, Project CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Manycore Abstraction9‣Hides less important details‣e.g., programmer doesn’t worry how code is compiled and executed on each processor pipeline‣Allows control of more important details‣e.g., parallel programmer controls how application code and data is distributed among cores‣If done right, provides portable efficiency‣i.e., same parallel program can be executed on different multiprocessor platforms (general-purpose x86 platform, MP-SoC, FPGA soft cores)CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectProject Topics‣This year’s theme: If “the processor is the new transistor”*, what does the standard-processor library look like?‣Assume any MP-SoC will be built from a heterogeneous mix of processor types‣Your task is to explore variations of RISC-V microprocessors in class projects‣i.e., pick a general class of RISC-V processor, then explore design space for that class of processors‣Output of class could be used to begin populating a “standard-processor” library10[*Rowen, Tensilica]Lecture 7, Project CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Results from MIT Lab Exercise (6.884 2005)11Pareto-Optimal PointsCS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectQuality-of-Results (QoR)‣QoR is term used to describe overall “goodness” of design. Usually a multi-dimensional vector including multiple metrics:‣Area (mm2)‣Performance (Operations/Second)‣Energy efficiency (Operations/Joule)‣System-Level Cost‣Correctness (not binary in practice) ‣Reliability (Undetected errors/Year, MTBF)‣Manufacturability (%Yield)‣We will focus on first three in project‣Require projects to be 100% correct...12CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectPareto-Optimal in 3D13AreaTime/OperationEnergy/OperationCS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectOur Project Expectations‣B grade‣Single working design‣A grade‣Thorough design-space exploration14CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectGeneral Project Info‣A large-scale VLSI design experience‣Most significant component of class ‣70% of grade!‣Work in teams of 2‣In exceptional circumstances, might allow other team sizes (1 or 3), but have to clear with us ASAP15CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectInitial Proposal‣Due October 10 before class‣email to instructors+TA as PDF file‣Not any other file format, must be PDF‣Must include:‣Title‣Team members’ names‣2-page description of what you want to do.‣What does the design space look like and how you will explore it‣Must be in PDF (in case you weren’t paying attention)16CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectProject Meetings‣Public presentation days:‣Each group gives 15 minute presentation to whole class‣Everyone must attend, give feedback‣Private project meetings:‣Approx. 20 minutes scheduled with each group alone with staff to give private guidance‣Class splits into two sets of project groups, one meets on Mondays, other on Wednesdays‣Plus, come to office hours, arrange other meetings17CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectPublic Presentations‣Oct 12: Present project proposal (10 mins)‣Describe your project idea, get feedback‣Oct 31/Nov 2: Present initial results on at least one design point‣15 minute presentation max. to whole class (~10 slides)‣Prepare concise, informative presentation.‣Ask class for feedback, 5 minutes‣Nov 14/16: Present some design-space exploration results‣Same 15 minute + 5 minute discussion format‣Dec 5/7: Final project presentations‣ 20 minutes each, time limit strictly enforced (practice!)18CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectPrivate Meetings‣Each group has a scheduled 20 minute meeting with staff to provide guidance/feedback‣Same time slot during class time every meeting week, and also used for final presentation‣Schedule picked randomly‣Cannot change unless you can convince another group to switch‣Come prepared with results/questions19CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectFinal Project Report‣Report should read like a conference paper‣ <=12 pages‣>= 10pt font‣one or two-column‣must be PDF‣Report due 6AM Monday Dec 12‣No extensions!‣Email PDF file to staff20CS250, UC Berkeley, Fall 2011Lecture 7, ProjectProject Source Code‣Must be kept in repository so we can build, test, and