Macro placement in System-on-a-Chip



 During the floor planning stage of the physical design process, the placements of macros are considered. This crucial step determines the locations and orientations of macro cells within the chip's layout. By carefully arranging the macros, designers aim to achieve desired objectives such as optimizing performance, reducing power consumption, minimizing area utilization, and ensuring efficient connectivity. The floor planning process plays a vital role in shaping the overall physical layout of the System-on-a-Chip (SoC) and sets the foundation for subsequent design stages.






Global Optimization Assisted pLacement (GOAL)


GOAL delivers highly optimized macro placement solutions for the SoC design, with a dual focus on reducing routing wirelength and minimizing routing congestion to enhance overall performance. Traditionally, macro placement during floorplanning has relied on the experience and knowledge of backend engineers. However, as the number of instances in SoC design grows, this manual approach became relatively time-consuming, resy=ulting in the major factor for delay in time-to-market.


 To overcome these challenges and to expedite time-to-market, one needs an efficient macro placement solution. GOAL was developed to address a very complex combinatorial optimization problem of macro placement. By utilizing the Conformational Space Annealing (CSA) global optimization technique, GOAL explores the vast solution space of macro placement where locations as well as orientations of macro cells are variables, and generates a collection of diverse and well-optimized macro placements that satisfy various design objectives and constraints.


 Smart automation of the macro placement process can significantly accelerates floorplanning job and reduce the dependency on manual methods, hence enhancing time-to-market. This allows backend engineers to focus on other higher-level design decision making processes and ptimize other aspects of the physical design process.

 With GOAL, design efficiency, accuracy, and time-to-market for SoC designs can be greatly improved. This enables designers to meet project timelines while delivering high-quality products.


   

GOAL – semiconductor design


GOAL delivers highly optimized macro placement solutions for the System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design, with a focus on reducing routing wirelength and minimizing routing congestion to enhance overall performance  in a significantly reduced timeframe.


Key features

Global optimization

GOAL stands out by providing the best-optimized macro placement solutions through an advanced approach of searching for globally optimized solutions within a solution map. This enables efficient exploration and identification of macro placements that deliver superior performance, reduced wirelength, and minimized congestion in the SoC design. With GOAL, designers can benefit from highly effective and globally optimized macro placements, leading to enhanced overall design quality and efficiency.


Learning is not required

GOAL offers a unique approach by directly solving the macro placement problem as a combinatorial optimization problem. Unlike methods that rely on machine learning techniques, GOAL focuses on leveraging optimization algorithms to find the best macro placements without the need for learning or training processes. This allows for efficient and effective solutions to be obtained directly, making GOAL a valuable tool for achieving optimal macro placement in SoC design without the requirement of machine learning methods.


Minimizing both wirelength and congestion

GOAL optimizes the placement of macros to achieve shorter routing wirelength, thereby reducing signal delays and improving overall performance. Additionally, GOAL intelligently considers the routing congestion, strategically placing macros to alleviate congestion hotspots and ensure smooth signal flow throughout the chip. This dual focus on minimizing wirelength and congestion makes GOAL an exceptional tool for achieving highly efficient and optimized macro placements in SoC design.


Simultaneous achievements of exceptional and diverse results

GOAL excels in delivering exceptional and diverse results simultaneously. By leveraging advanced optimization algorithms, GOAL explores a wide range of possibilities during macro placement to achieve diverse and highly optimized outcomes. This approach ensures that designers have access to a rich set of solutions that cater to different design objectives and trade-offs. Whether it's reducing wirelength, minimizing congestion, optimizing performance, or balancing various factors, GOAL's ability to generate diverse and high-quality results empowers designers to make informed decisions and select the most suitable solution for their specific requirements.


Time-to-market reduction

GOAL effectively contributes to reducing time-to-market in SoC design. By automating and optimizing the macro placement process, GOAL streamlines the design flow, enabling faster iterations and shorter development cycles. Its efficient algorithms and comprehensive solution exploration help accelerate the overall design process, allowing designers to quickly arrive at optimal macro placements. By reducing the time spent on manual placement iterations, GOAL can significantly contribute to reducing time-to-market, enabling companies to bring their products to market in time and gain a competitive edge.


Easy adoption

GOAL facilitates the use of various input files and provides customizable results tailored to the engineer's needs. This compatibility makes GOAL highly adaptable to a wide range of auto Place-and-Route (P&R) tools.


Macro placement in System-on-a-Chip 


 During the floor planning stage of the physical design process, the placements of macros are considered. This crucial step determines the locations and orientations of macro cells within the chip's layout. By carefully arranging the macros, designers aim to achieve desired objectives such as optimizing performance, reducing power consumption, minimizing area utilization, and ensuring efficient connectivity. The floor planning process plays a vital role in shaping the overall physical layout of the System-on-a-Chip (SoC) and sets the foundation for subsequent design stages.

Global Optimization Assisted pLacement (GOAL)


 GOAL delivers highly optimized macro placement solutions for the SoC design, with a dual focus on reducing routing wirelength and minimizing routing congestion to enhance overall performance. Traditionally, macro placement during floorplanning has relied on the experience and knowledge of backend engineers. However, as the number of instances in SoC design grows, this manual approach became relatively time-consuming, resy=ulting in the major factor for delay in time-to-market.


 To overcome these challenges and to expedite time-to-market, one needs an efficient macro placement solution. GOAL was developed to address a very complex combinatorial optimization problem of macro placement. By utilizing the Conformational Space Annealing (CSA) global optimization technique, GOAL explores the vast solution space of macro placement where locations as well as orientations of macro cells are variables, and generates a collection of diverse and well-optimized macro placements that satisfy various design objectives and constraints.


 Smart automation of the macro placement process can significantly accelerates floorplanning job and reduce the dependency on manual methods, hence enhancing time-to-market. This allows backend engineers to focus on other higher-level design decision making processes and ptimize other aspects of the physical design process.

With GOAL, design efficiency, accuracy, and time-to-market for SoC designs can be greatly improved. This enables designers to meet project timelines while delivering high-quality products.

GOAL – semiconductor design


 GOAL delivers highly optimized macro placement solutions for the System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design, with a focus on reducing routing wirelength and minimizing routing congestion to enhance overall performance  in a significantly reduced timeframe.



Key features


Global optimization

GOAL stands out by providing the best-optimized macro placement solutions through an advanced approach of searching for globally optimized solutions within a solution map. This enables efficient exploration and identification of macro placements that deliver superior performance, reduced wirelength, and minimized congestion in the SoC design. With GOAL, designers can benefit from highly effective and globally optimized macro placements, leading to enhanced overall design quality and efficiency.


Learning is not required

GOAL offers a unique approach by directly solving the macro placement problem as a combinatorial optimization problem. Unlike methods that rely on machine learning techniques, GOAL focuses on leveraging optimization algorithms to find the best macro placements without the need for learning or training processes. This allows for efficient and effective solutions to be obtained directly, making GOAL a valuable tool for achieving optimal macro placement in SoC design without the requirement of machine learning methods.


Minimizing both wirelength and congestion

GOAL optimizes the placement of macros to achieve shorter routing wirelength, thereby reducing signal delays and improving overall performance. Additionally, GOAL intelligently considers the routing congestion, strategically placing macros to alleviate congestion hotspots and ensure smooth signal flow throughout the chip. This dual focus on minimizing wirelength and congestion makes GOAL an exceptional tool for achieving highly efficient and optimized macro placements in SoC design.


Simultaneous achievements of exceptional and diverse results

GOAL excels in delivering exceptional and diverse results simultaneously. By leveraging advanced optimization algorithms, GOAL explores a wide range of possibilities during macro placement to achieve diverse and highly optimized outcomes. This approach ensures that designers have access to a rich set of solutions that cater to different design objectives and trade-offs. Whether it's reducing wirelength, minimizing congestion, optimizing performance, or balancing various factors, GOAL's ability to generate diverse and high-quality results empowers designers to make informed decisions and select the most suitable solution for their specific requirements.


Time-to-market reduction

GOAL effectively contributes to reducing time-to-market in SoC design. By automating and optimizing the macro placement process, GOAL streamlines the design flow, enabling faster iterations and shorter development cycles. Its efficient algorithms and comprehensive solution exploration help accelerate the overall design process, allowing designers to quickly arrive at optimal macro placements. By reducing the time spent on manual placement iterations, GOAL can significantly contribute to reducing time-to-market, enabling companies to bring their products to market in time and gain a competitive edge.


Easy adoption

GOAL facilitates the use of various input files and provides customizable results tailored to the engineer's needs. This compatibility makes GOAL highly adaptable to a wide range of auto Place-and-Route (P&R) tools.