Projektbeschreibung
Schaltkreisdesign zur Ermöglichung einer flexiblen Reaktion auf einen plötzlichen Spannungsabfall
Bei einem Spannungsabfall handelt es sich um eine unvorhergesehene Abnahme der Spannungszufuhr für Computerchips, die oft auf nahegelegene Schübe hochintensiver Schaltkreisaktivitäten zurückzuführen ist. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt FastVolt befasst sich mit plötzlichen Spannungsabfällen, bei denen die Spannung innerhalb weniger Taktzyklen abnimmt. Die Forschenden haben vor, einen einfachen, kompakten Schaltkreis zu entwickeln, der Spannungsabfälle kompensiert, ohne dass es zu Synchronisationsverzögerungen kommt. Das sollte eine praktische Methode für eine flexible Reaktion auf plötzliche Abfälle bereitstellten, die verspricht, die rechnerische Effizienz zu steigern. Vorsichtigen Schätzungen zufolge könnte dies zu einem Leistungszuwachs von mindestens 5 % führen. Die am Projekt beteiligten Partnereinrichtungen werden alle nötigen Maßnahmen ergreifen, um diese neue Lösung erfolgreich auf den Markt zu bringen.
Ziel
"Voltage droops are unpredicted drops in the supply voltage of computer chips, which often occur as a result of nearby bursts of high intensity circuit activity. This proposal is concerned with fast voltage droops, where voltage drops within a few clock cycles. This means that any dynamic response must take place within one or at most two clock cycles. A promising direction for combining the advantages of a stable reference clock with a small response time are mixed-signal control loops, in which voltage measurements are digitized and control decisions are taken by digital logic. However, digitally measuring a dynamically changing voltage may cause metastability of the sampling circuit. Conventional approaches employ synchronizers to make the probability of metastable upsets negligible, which costs 2-3 clock cycles of additional delay.
Based on results of the ERC starting grant project ""A Theory of Reliable Hardware,'' we provide a simple, compact circuit that guarantees the desired behavior without incurring synchronizer delay. This yields a practical method for adaptive response to fast droops, which bears the promise of increasing computational efficiency. Conservative estimates suggest performance improvements of at least 5%, which would be of substantial economical interest.
The main obstacle to commercialization is a gap between theory and practice: Without an existing implementation, it takes a long time to develop a product and the associated risks are high. In this project, we will overcome this hurdle by developing, producing, and evaluating an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) demonstrator for our approach. We complement this primary goal by tasks aiming at maximizing impact: publication of results in high-profile scientific venues, patent protection to facilitate commercialization, and outreach to potential industry partners for developing products."
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectrical engineeringelectric energy
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectrical engineeringpower engineeringelectric power distribution
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcomputer hardware
Programm/Programme
Finanzierungsplan
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantGastgebende Einrichtung
66123 Saarbrucken
Deutschland