Architecture experimentation with the behavioural silicon compiler SYCO

Architecture experimentation with the SYCO silicon compiler is described. It is noted that, although SYCO starts from a behavioral description, the translation scheme (from algorithmic description to layout) is easy to understand and there is a correspondence between the input description and the layout. The designer can easily modify the input description in order to force the compiler to produce a given result. SYCO provides a tool called ARTS that helps the user to make architectural tradeoffs. ARTS provides commands that modify automatically the input description in order to obtain a new architectural solution without modifying the function of the circuit. An example of architecture experimentation is given