Research efforts

ASC was awarded four Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) government contracts to develop a synthesis tool that optimizes the RTL output for power consumption, as well as area and performance. A key part of the solution is based on patented algorithms developed by Princeton University, which have been assigned to ASC through an exclusive multi-year licensing agreement. Following four years of development the project is entering the beta testing phase, while the company sorts through marketing options.

The magnitude of developing an architectural level synthesis tool is a large task for any company, especially challenging for a small company. To mitigate the risks and challenge, ASC looked to XML to simplify the task and is developing HXML for hardware.

The Department of Defense published an SBIR topic to improve methods for producing radiation hardened designs. In the ASC solution triple modular redundancy, a classic approach to fault tolerance, is implemented in a virtual manner by using idle compute resources to make the redundant computations during idle cycles. The technique will also benefit telecommunications and automotive industries where reliability is high priority. When additional funding commitments are made, program schedules and release dates can be determined.

In a recent SBIR solicitation the DOD was looking for advanced ways to apply high level languages to represent system behavior. Mindful that none of the proposed languages and language extensions have provided the ideal solution, ASC proposed a new language that provides all of the functions with none of the shortcomings that exit in the alternative proposals. While waiting for funding decisions to be made, ASC is evaluating alternative sources to fund development.

Other research and preliminary development has been completed for a variety of other design methods and test techniques. Some of this work may fit your product development needs. Contact ASC for details of how this technology can help meet your development goals and schedules.