Internet-Based Micro-Electronic Design Automation (IMEDA) Framework:Conclusion

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Conclusion

Managing the design process is the key factor to improve the productivity in the micro-electronic industry. We have presented an Internet-based Micro-Electronic Design Automation (IMEDA) framework to manage the design process. IMEDA uses a powerful formalism, called design process grammars, for representing design processes. We have also proposed an execution environment that utilizes this for- malism to assist designers in selecting and executing appropriate design processes. The proposed approach is applicable not only in rapid prototyping but also in any environment where a design is carried out hierarchically and many alternative processes are possible.

The primary advantages of our system are

• Formalism: A strong theoretical foundation enables us to analyze how our system will operate with different methodologies.

• Parallelism: In addition to performing independent tasks within a methodology in parallel, our system also allows multiple methodologies to be executed in parallel.

• Extensibility: New tools can be integrated easily by adding productions and manager programs.

• Flexibility: Many different control strategies can be used. They can even be mixed within the same design exercise.

The prototype of IMEDA is implemented using Java. We are currently integrating more tools into our prototype system and developing manager program templates that implement more sophisticated algorithms for pre-evaluation, logical task execution, and query handling. Our system will become more useful as CAD vendors to adapt open software systems and allow greater tool interoperability.

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