Rational Control of Multi-level Stochastic Design (original) (raw)

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J. Storrs Hall,Louis Steinberg, andBrian D. Davison

Abstract

Search in a complex design space (e.g. in VLSI design) is only feasible when it is factored into smaller ones. A common and useful factoring is the hierarchy of abstraction levels, where each abstraction level has a distinct ontology, evaluation function, and search behavior. Such problems are then attacked by linking together a number of stochastic search programs (e.g., multi-start hill climbers), one for each level. At each point in the design process it is necessary to choose whether to continue looking for a better design at the current level, or working further on some design at a higher or lower level. We present a rational, i.e. utility-based, method for this choice, together with some experiments in the domain of VLSI placement and routing.

Published in the_Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Modelling and Simulation_, May 15-17, 1997, Pittsburgh, PA.

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Last modified: May 20, 1997
Brian D. Davison