Table Of ContentAutomating the Design of
Computer Systems
The MICON Project
Computer Science Publishing Program
Advisory Board
Christopher Brown, University of Rochester
Eugene Fiume, University of Toronto
Brad Myers, Carnegie Mellon University
Daniel Siewiorek, Carnegie Mellon University
Automating the Design of
Computer Systems
The MICON Project
William P Birmingham
0
Department ofE lectrical Engineering and Computer Science
University ofM ichigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Anurag P Gupta and Daniel P Siewiorek
0 0
Department ofE lectrical and Computer Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Boca Raton London New York
CRC Press is an imprint of the
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First published 1992 by Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc.
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Copyright © 1992 by Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc.
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ISBN-13: 978-0-86720-241-0 (hbk)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-ln·Publlcation Data
Birmingham, William P.
Automating the design of computer systems : the MICON Project I
William P. Birmingham, Anurag P. Gupta, and Daniel P. Siewiorek.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-86720-241-6
l. System design. 2. MICON Project. 3. Computer-aided design.
I. Gupta, Anurag P. II. Siewiorek, Daniel P. III. Title.
QA 76.9.S88B57 1992
62l.39'2'028563--dc20 91-44782
CIP
To our families and parents
Contents
Preface x*
Acknowledgements
I The Process of Design 1
1 Introduction 3
1.1 Motivation for the Automation of Computer Design................ 3
1.2 Subtasks in Computer Design..................................................... 8
1.3 History of the Automation of Computer Design......................... 10
1.4 System-Level Synthesis.............................................................. 12
2 The MICON System 17
2.1 Overview....................................................................................... 17
2.2 Design Domain ........................................................................... 23
2.3 Related Knowledge-Based Design Tools .................................. 24
2.4 Project History.............................................................................. 25
vii
viii Contents
II Automated System-Level Synthesis 29
3 An Introduction to Synthesis 31
3.1 The Design Synthesis Problem .................................................. 31
3.2 The Design Model....................................................................... 33
3.3 An Illustrative Example.............................................................. 37
4 An Architecture for Automated Design Synthesis 39
4.1 Design Representation................................................................. 39
4.2 The Design Process.................................................................... 53
4.3 Putting It All Together................................................................. 61
5 The Ml System 69
5.1 Knowledge-Based Implementation............................................... 69
5.2 Knowledge Base........................................................................... 70
5.3 The MICON Database................................................................. 82
5.4 Knowledge Utilization Example.................................................. 85
6 Failure Handling 91
6.1 Failure Handling Mechanisms...................................................... 92
6.2 Failure Characterization.............................................................. 93
6.3 Specification Failure Correction.................................................. 93
6.4 A Failure Correction Example..................................................... 96
6.5 Resource Failures.......................................................... 101
III Knowledge Acquisition 103
7 An Introduction to Automated Knowledge Acquisition 105
7.1 Expert System Development............................................................105
7.2 Specialized Knowledge-Acquisition Tools.................................. 110
7.3 Knowledge-Acquisition Tool Development Issues...................... 112
8 Knowledge Gathering in CGEN 115
8.1 The Problem................................................................................. 115
8.2 Presupposing Ml ....................................................................... 119
8.3 Gathering Knowledge................................................................. 121
9 Generalization Technique 131
9.1 Problem Definition............................... 131
9.2 The Generalization Approach..................................................... 133
9.3 An Example.....................................................................................134
9.4 Issues in Generalization.............................................................. 136
Contents IX
9.5 The Nature of Generalization Knowledge.......................................139
10 Modeling Ml 141
10.1 Engineering Ml’s Knowledge Base............................................ 142
10.2 The Models.....................................................................................144
10.3 The Development Model ...............................................................144
10.4 The Rule Form Model................................................................. 145
10.5 The Syntax Model...........................................................................152
10.6 A Rule Generation Example ............................................................153
10.7 Discussion.................................................................................... 155
IV Examples, Experiments, and Experiences 159
11 A Complete Example 161
11.1 Developing a Part M odel...............................................................161
11.2 Synthesis Using M l........................................................................163
11.3 Getting Prompted for Knowledge Acquisition............................ 165
11.4 Knowledge Acquisition Using CGEN........................................ 166
11.5 Continuing with Synthesis...............................................................172
11.6 Another Training Session Using CGEN..................................... 172
11.7 Completing Synthesis Using Ml ...................................................176
12 CGEN Experimentation 177
12.1 Overview...........................................................................................177
12.2 Experimental Set-Up........................................................................178
12.3 Experimental Results ................................................................. 182
13 Ml Experimentation 193
13.1 Design Space ..................................................................................193
13.2 Capabilities and Limitations............................................................198
13.3 Other Designs.................................................................................201
14 Experience Using MICON 205
14.1 General Observations.....................................................................206
14.2 User Experience..............................................................................207
V Extension to Other Domains 213
15 Making MICON Domain-Independent 215
15.1 Portable Design Tools.................................................... 216
15.2 The M1Di and CGENDi Architectures............................................217
