FLIGHT: a novel approach to the high-level synthesis of digit-serial digital filters

Genetic algorithms are exploited and applied to the development of a novel approach to the high-level synthesis of digit-serial digital filters. The salient feature of this approach is that it permits the digit-size to be taken into account as a variable of optimization, facilitating global data-path optimization with respect to both area and time. Moreover, it conforms closely to an actual hardware implementation, taking into account not only the cost of the required arithmetic functional units but also that of the required registers and multiplexors. The proposed approach is particularly efficient as it preserves the data-dependency relationships in the original digital filter data flow-graph under the operations of crossover and mutation performed by the constituent genetic algorithm. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by comparing its results to those obtained by using the existing techniques for the high-level synthesis of a benchmark wave digital filter implemented as a bit-parallel architecture, and by presenting the results for the corresponding digital filter implemented as a digit-serial architecture