A European project aims to develop a design environment for the creation of multi-function smart systems.
The devices will integrate functions such as sensing, actuation, data processing, wireless and energy harvesting in the one package.
The three-year SMArt systems Co-design (SMAC) programme will be partially funded by the EU’s FP7 (FP7-ICT-2011-7.
The project recognises the need for a design methodology which will support and incorporate new packaging technologies such as system-in-package (SiP) and chip stacking (3D IC) with through-silicon vias.
“The major obstacle to the rapid expansion of smart systems applications is not the technologies involved but the lack of a structured design methodology that explicitly accounts for final integration,” said Salvatore Rinaudo, SMAC project co-ordinator and Industrial and Multisegment Sector CAD R&D Director at STMicroelectronics.
“The total combination must be designed as a single system and the tools and methodology are currently lacking," said Rinaudo.
It hoped that the SMAC project will give European companies and universities an advantage in "exploiting the potential of smart systems, reducing design costs and time-to-market and minimising the risk of encountering problems in the final integration”, said Rinaudo.
In current system design completely different tools are used to model, simulate, and design components such as MEMS sensors, analogue and RF components, and digital ICs and none of these tools take the ultimate system integration into account.
The SMAC Platform will be co-developed by academic and industry partners, including several EDA and semiconductor vendors to ensure its usability in realistic, industry-strength design flows and environments.
The scientific and technical results expected at the conclusion of the project include:
New modeling and simulation capabilities to support accurate multi-physics, multi-layer, multi-scale and multi-domain co-simulation.
Innovative integration-aware design techniques for components and subsystems from different technology domains and with different functions.
Combination and augmentation of existing modeling and simulation tools into a seamless design flow (i.e., the SMAC Platform), enabling integration-aware co-design of smart systems.
Demonstration of the effectiveness of some of the new design solutions through implementation of test-cases featuring leading-edge technology.
Demonstration of the accuracy and ease of integration of new and existing EDA tools within the SMAC Platform by comparison with state-of-the-art reference methodologies.
Demonstration of the usability of the SMAC Platform through its application to an industry-strength design case.
The project partners are:
STMicroelectronics s.r.l. (Italy), the Project Coordinator;
Philips Medical Systems Nederland BV (The Netherlands);
ON Semiconductor Belgium BVBA (Belgium);
Agilent Technologies Belgium NV (Belgium);
Coventor Sarl (France);
MunEDA GmbH (Germany);
EDALab s.r.l. (Italy);
Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italy);
Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork (Ireland);
Instytut Technologii Elektronowej (Poland);
Politecnico di Torino (Italy);
Università degli Studi di Catania (Italy);
University of Nottingham (United Kingdom);
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium);
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (The Netherlands);
Slovak University of Technology Bratislava (Slovakia);
ST-POLITO s.c.a.r.l. (Italy).