SCROOGE EPA 1.0
PRELIMINARY
Hierarchical power estimation |
Transient and average profiles |
Activity control optimization |
With the ever growing usage of portable devices, as well as the emphasis on energy savings, minimizing power consumption is a vital concern for SoC architects and designers. To reach minimal power consumption with a cost effective approach, power consumption analysis has to be performed as early as possible in the design flow in order to be most efficient. Average power estimation using a spreadsheet approach for each block is no longer sufficient: power consumption profiles must be evaluated dynamically.
Among missing EDA links, a range of innovative solutions is proposed to optimize mixed-signal SoC power consumption: the SCROOGE family.
ARCHITECTURAL LEVEL
STRUCTURAL LEVEL
POST SYNTHESIS LEVEL
Static composition of consumption and noise emission
Transient composition of power consumption averages per mode, transition profiles and power peaks
Spectral composition of power consumption noise profiles
Power consumption analyzer
Why use SCROOGE EPA?
The sooner power consumption issues are addressed and solved, the better it is. Indeed, for SoC integrators, minimizing power consumption late in the design flow significantly increases the cost and consequently reduces the potential leeway for reduction.
SCROOGE EPA provides an accurate and hierarchical power consumption analysis (average, transient and peak) based on composition of transient power consumption profiles per mode. The SoC Integrator can easily reuse profiles extracted from simulations using SCROOGE TLA or parameterizable behavioral power consumption models.
Key Benefits
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Check if the hierarchical power consumption of a mixed signal SoC meets the specified budget, early in the flow
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Take into account the activity sequence and operating modes, mode transition profiles and mode power peaks for power analysis
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Help to optimize:
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The Power Management Network (PMN)
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The size of the power and voltage islets
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The SoC Activity Control Unit (ACU)
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Help to minimize the size of regulators taking into account
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Maximum average (by mode) power consumption
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Maximum power step between modes
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Maximum peak power consumption
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Capacitance requirements, on the regulators outputs
How does SCROOGE EPA work?
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It provides the interface for:
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Describing the blocks and their relationships for the power supply voltage, mode control and clock domains
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Configuring the behavioral power consumption model for each block (including the one for the regulator): associate the power consumption modes at the block level and determine required activity control
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Defining the activity sequences at the SoC level
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It composes the power consumption (average, peaks, transitions) for the activity sequence to obtain the power consumption profile
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It checks the compatibility between the regulator and its load
Definitions
Activity Control Unit (ACU): component of the SoC designed to handle clock domains, control power islet voltage states and coordinate mode changes according to the activity sequence.
Activity Sequence: succession of operating modes at User level starting with the power-up sequence; indeed the power consumption analysis is dependent on the activity of the SoC.
Mode: the activity state of the component which determines the operational mode and defines the internal voltage (on, retention or off).
Benchmark: associated with the mode of a component, it defines the average component activity when running a set of operations to assess the relative performance - in this case, the power consumption.
Clock Domain: a group of synchronous cells sharing the same clock.
Power and voltage Islets: group of components sharing the same power supply: can be in retention, in extinction mode, or at different voltages. It is controlled by the ACU.
Clock path: distributes clock operating frequency changes from the activity sequence to the blocks.
Command path: distributes mode and benchmark changes from the activity sequence to the blocks.
Power Management Network (PMN): network of regulators between the power source(s) and the various loads
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