Session

DescriptionThe growth of autonomous systems, coupled with design efforts and cost challenges brought by new technology nodes, is driving the need for generators that could quickly transition high-level algorithmic specifications to specialized hardware implementations. The necessity to explore additional dimensions of the design space (e.g., accuracy, security, system size and cooling) is further emphasizing the need for interoperable tools. This special session focuses on efforts for interoperable, modularized, and opensource tools to provide a no-human-in-the-loop design cycle from high-level specifications to ASICs and further promote novel research. The first talk introduces the status quo and CIRCT, an initiative aiming at applying MLIR and the LLVM development methodology to design automation. The second and third talks describe state-of-the-art tools, for high-level synthesis, and for logic synthesis, respectively, and discuss explorations to bridge the two. The session overviews how interoperability is achieved today, opportunities, challenges, and new perspectives enabled by community efforts.