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	CONCURRENCY and VLSI
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	"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Leonardo da Vinci
	_	Research in Alain Martin's lab is about developing design methods that can cope with the increasing complexity of modern computing systems--hardware or software. Specific research topics include concurrency, from concurrent algorithms to parallel machine architectures, and VLSI design. Our interest in VLSI design was triggered by the observation that a modern VLSI circuit is mostly a complex distributed system on a chip. Our main research activity at the moment is in the area of ASYNCHRONOUS VLSI. A digital circuit is called "asynchronous" when it doesn't use a clock, and therefore such circuits lend themselves perfectly to a high-level synthesis approach. We believe that the complexity and brittleness of today's VLSI systems requires new design methods based on asynchronous techniques, concurrency, high-level synthesis, and verification. The objectives of the research are to develop a complete design method for asynchronous systems, including high-level synthesis, verification, simulation, and testing. to build a suite of CAD tools supporting the design method. to design high-performance and energy-efficient asynchronous architectures for microprocessors, memories, and systems-on-a-chip. to apply asynchronous techniques to emerging technologies, like molecular nanotechnology and flexible substrates, where extreme parameter variations all but preclude the use of clocks. The research has been supported by DARPA, the NSF, and the Air Force.		_
	To Caltech Department of Computer Science Home Page Mailing Address: Alain J. Martin, Department of Computer Science, Caltech 256-80, Pasadena CA 91125, USA. This research is currently supported by the National Science Foundation. Last Modified: March 2008