PhD position: Automatic architecture and circuit synthesis of adaptable ASIPs

Staff Category
PhD-student

Department
Department of Electrical Engineering

FTE
1,0

Date off
31-03-2010

Reference number
V36.1076


The Department of Electrical Engineering concerns the research and education of the Electrical Engineering discipline. Electrical Engineering covers the application of electrical phenomena with respect to energy transfer, telecommunication, and calculation and processing of information and the technology involved. Both hardware, in the form of electronic circuits and accessories, and software, in the form of system software for electro-technical application, are the subject of study. Existing and new electrical components and systems are analyzed, designed and realized. In addition, the maintenance of these systems is the subject of research, as is the relevance for society of electrical engineering and informatics.
Position

The position is in the Section of Digital Circuits and Formal Design Methods (DCFDM) of the Electronic Systems (ES) Group. The mission of the ES Group is to provide a scientific basis for design trajectories of digital electronic circuits and systems 'from (generalized) algorithm to realization'. To identify the key problems, and verify the validity, robustness and completeness of our results, we develop, implement and maintain consistent and complete flows, and use them for realizing innovative hardware with emphasis on video processing and embedded architectures. The mission of the DCFDM Section is research and development of theory, methods and EDA tools for modeling, analysis, synthesis and optimization of digital circuits and systems to adequately cope with the increasing complexity and challenges of the nano-electronic technologies. It has an internationally recognized expertise in design theory, methodology and electronic design automation for embedded system design and hardware synthesis. It has also experience with FPGA-based design, (re-)configurable architectures, multi-objective circuit and system optimization and automatic architecture synthesis for (heterogeneous) platform-based systems.
Project

The research work will be performed in the scope of the Architecture Synthesis and Application Mapping (ASAM) project, being a part of the European research program ARTEMIS. The ASAM project addresses the problem of an automatic coherent architecture synthesis and application mapping for heterogeneous multi-processor embedded systems based on configurable application-specific instruction-set processors (ASIPs). It aims at defining a new unified design methodology, as well as, related synthesis and prototyping tool-chains for: multi-objective design space exploration for configurable heterogeneous multi-ASIP systems and identification of the application-tailored system architecture; automatic architecture instantiation or customization of particular application-tailored processors, memories and communication structures of the system architecture; optimal hardware synthesis of the created platform; automatic application mapping on the resulting multi-processor heterogeneous platform; and software compiler retargeting and automatic software compilation, all when accounting for the platform hardware characteristics and for the functional and extra-functional requirements and trade-offs.
The research work will be focused on the automatic architecture instantiation or customization of the application-tailored ASIPs, including their extension with new application-specific instructions and related hardware, optimal synthesis of the ASIPs’ hardware, and collaboration of these micro-architecture and hardware synthesis tasks with the memory and communication architecture synthesis, as well as, with the macro-architecture synthesis of the whole heterogeneous multi-processor system.
Tasks

The research work in the scope of the above described project involving development of new design methods, and related electronic design automation (EDA) analysis and synthesis flows and tools, software implementation of the prototype EDA tools and flows, and experimental research with their use.
Requirements

Candidates for this PhD position should meet the following requirements:

  • MSc in Embedded Systems, Computer Engineering, Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology or related area, with an advanced knowledge or minor/majors in subjects related to electronic design automation, (embedded) processor architectures and/or SoC design;
  • a solid knowledge of and substantial experience in software design and programming, including knowledge of and experience with programming in C++ and/or C;
  • excellent invention and learning abilities;
  • excellent analytical, organizational and communication skills, including an ability of effective and efficient individual work, as well as, easy cooperation in a team with supervisors, students, other researchers and companies, and excellent English language capabilities both in writing and speaking;
  • a substantial knowledge of or experience with ASIP processors, instruction-set synthesis, (re-)configurable systems, FPGA-based design and prototyping, and related EDA tools will be a premium.

Appointment and Salary

The appointment is for four years. As an employee of the university you will receive a competitive salary as well as excellent employment conditions (including excellent sport facilities and child care). The research in this project must be concluded with writing a PhD thesis. A salary is offered starting at EUR 2042 per month (gross) in the first year and increasing up to EUR 2612 per month (gross) in the last year. Moreover 8% bonus share (holiday supplement) is provided annually. Assistance for finding accommodation can be given. The university offers an attractive package of fringe benefits such as excellent technical infrastructure, child care, savings schemes, and excellent sports facilities.
TU/e offers you also the opportunity for personal development by developing your social and communication skills. We do this by offering every PhD student a series of courses that are part of the Proof program as an excellent addition to your scientific education (Proof program).
Information

For more information on the project, tasks or requirements please contact Dr. ir. L. JóŸwiak, tel. +31-(0)40-2473645, e-mail: L.Jozwiak@tue.nl.
For terms on employment please contact: Ms. F. Verheggen, HR advisor of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering tel. +31-(0)40-2474796, e-mail: f.verheggen@tue.nl.

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