Research Field A: Modelling and Design
The development of description and design tools spans several levels, from the design of customer specific microcontrollers to the optimization of program code. The focus is on the specific demands of microsystems such as resource-aware program code and energy efficient operation.
Projekte im Forschungsbereich A Modellierung und Entwurf
:
- A.1
- Mixed-Signal Modelling and Synthesis on FPAA and FPGA
- A.2
- Application Specific Microcontrollers
- A.3
- Generation of Minimal Real-Time Operating Systems for Embedded Microsystems
- A.4
- Resource-Aware Program Adaption
A.1 Mixed-Signal Modelling and Synthesis on FPAA and FPGA
In developing mixed analog/digital microsystems the fundamental question of partitioning of the problem into analog and digital parts arises. Usually there is no fusion of analog and digital components but interfaces, at which the conversion takes place. Therefore it must be determined from the beginning, which functional modules are implemented in analog or digital technology, although at this level no criteria for this decision exist.
Through the development of reconfigurable analog components (FPAAs) as well as the introduction of analog elements into the hardware description languages, many new possibilities are created to study the problem of partitioning again. For the evaluation of new design methods it is necessary to provide a platform on which mixed analog/digital systems can be synthesized and instantiated.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Yiannos Manoli
Chair of Microelectronics
Department of Microsystems Engineering
Georges-Köhler-Allee 102, D-79110 Freiburg
Phone: +49-761-203-7590 | Fax: +49-761-203-7592 | Email
A.2 Application Specific Microcontrollers
A microcontroller is the brain
of every embedded microsystem, since they control both data acquisition and processing. In addition they form a flexible interface to each conceivable communication with the embedded system e.g. direct user interaction or binding to a higher scale data processing system. Design methods for microcontrollers with respect to embedded systems are substantially different to those for conventional processors, since the requirements are differently weighted. Design parameters such as computational performance or data throughput become less relevant against e.g. efficiency and sophisticated data coding, low power and reduced chip size. A special requirement for controllers of microsystems is the close fusion of both acquisition of sensor data and their processing. It is expected that by monolithic integration of sensor read-out electronics and data processing in one controller, unused synergies can be exploited and thus higher efficiency can be achieved.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Yiannos Manoli
Chair of Microelectronics
Department of Microsystems Engineering
Georges-Köhler-Allee 102, D-79110 Freiburg
Phone: +49-761-203-7590 | Fax: +49-761-203-7592 | Email
A.3 Generation of Minimal Real-Time Operating Systems for Embedded Microsystems
The project addresses the generation of real-time operating systems for embedded microsystems.
Embedded microsystems which contain microcontrollers and processors for controlling und data processing (in addition to sensor arrays, communication structures etc.) need standard functions for their operation. For reasons of a convenient development of application software these standard functions should be realized by system calls of an existing real-time operating system. On the other hand embedded microsystems have to cope with high demands such as power minimization, minimization of run time and memory, and real-time deadlines, and thus, in many cases real-time operating are not used all the same. In contrast, non-specialized, universally applicable routines of operating systems are replaced by hand-written specialized software.
In this project generators for real-time operating systems will be developed which generate a minimal operating system based on knowledge of the application and on knowledge of the architecture of the system. In contrast to rather restricted opportunities for configuration in existing real-time operating systems the customization to the application will show a higher granularity and will be performed automatically. By using the knowledge of the underlying architecture and the application running on it we will consider optimization objectives such as memory consumption, run time, and energy efficiency. Since embedded microsystems are often used in safety critical applications, another focus will be on methods for guaranteeing correctness of the resulting system.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Scholl
Chair of Operating Systems
Department of Computer Science
Georges-Köhler-Allee 051, D-79110 Freiburg
Phone: +49-761-203-8152 | Fax: +49-761-203-8142 | Email
A.4 Resource-Aware Program Adaption
Modern software development relies on components to reduce development time and to improve maintainability. Components are generic, reusable building blocks for software systems. They are adapted by setting parameters and then connected to a desired system.
In contrast, software for embedded microsystems is often developed from scratch to exploit the restricted resources in an optimal way. This approach is less systematic and more error prone, thus it leads to a longer development time and hampers maintainability.
Our aim is the development of resource aware program adaptation (RPA) as a technology that helps to build embedded software from existing components. RPA is based on a concept of adaptive components. It should eliminate dead code as well as specialize generic code with respect to the parameters. By employing specizialization technology RPA guarantees the compliance with predefined resource bounds of runtime, memory, and energy consumption.
Image created by Torben Mogensen (torbenm@diku.dk) used with permission of the author
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Peter Thiemann
Chair of Programming Languages
Department of Computer Science
Georges-Köhler-Allee 079, D-79110 Freiburg
Phone: +49-761-203-8051 | Fax: +49-761-203-8052 | Email