The best of both worlds: the efficient asynchronous implementation of synchronous specifications

Abstract

The desynchronization approach combines a traditional synchronous specification style with a robust asynchronous implementation model. The main contribution of this paper is the description of two optimizations that decrease the overhead of desynchronization. First, we investigate the use of clustering to vary the granularity of desynchronization. Second, by applying temporal analysis on a formal execution model of the desynchronized design, we uncover significant amounts of timing slack. These methods are successfully applied to industrial RTL designs.