Constrained floorplan design for flexible blocks

The authors propose a simple and fast iterative improvement algorithm for solving the constrained floorplan design problem. The algorithm allows users to specify an aspect ratio for the bounding rectangle and constraints on the relative positions and separation requirements of blocks. In the first phase of the algorithm, two scaling factors for each flexible block are computed for adjusting the block dimensions iteratively. In the second phase, blocks are placed according to the constraint graphs. If no overlaps are detected, the algorithm stops; otherwise an edge is inserted into one of the constraint graphs to resolve the overlap between one pair of blocks. The algorithm then goes back to the first phase. Experimental results show that this algorithm tends to achieve the prespecified overall aspect ratio and produces floorplans with small overall area.<>