Single-Chip Computers, the New VLSI Building Blocks

Current trends in the design of general purpose VLSI chips are analyzed to explore what a truly modular, general-purpose component for digital computing systems might look like in the mid 1980's. It is concluded that such a component would be a complete single-chip computer, in which the hardware for effective interprocessor communication has been designed with the architecture of the overall multiprocessor system in mind. Computation and communication are handled by separate processors in such a manner, that both can be performed simultaneously with full efficiency. This paper then describes relevant features of X-TREE, a research project which addresses the question how the power of VLSI of the next decade can best be used to build general purpose computing systems of arbitrary size. In X-TREE, a general VLSI component realizable in the mid 1980's is defined, and its interconnection into a hierarchical tree-structured network is studied. The overall architecture, communications issues and the blockdiagram of the modular component used are discussed

CAD’04, www.cadconferences.com Copyright © CAD Solutions Co., Ltd. CAD Tools for Aesthetic Engineering

The role of computers and of computer-aided design tools for the creation of geometrical shapes that will be judged primarily by aesthetic considerations is reviewed. Examples are the procedural generation of abstract geometrical sculpture or the shape optimization of constrained curves and surfaces with some global “cost ” functional. Different possibilities for such “beauty functionals ” are discussed. Moreover, rapid prototyping tools based on layered manufacturing now add a new dimension to the visualization of emerging designs. Finally, true interactivity of the CAD tools allows a more effective exploration of larger parts of the design space and can thereby result in an actual amplification of the creative process