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From the Foreword..... Modern digital signal processing
applications provide a large challenge to the system designer.
Algorithms are becoming increasingly complex, and yet they must be
realized with tight performance constraints. Nevertheless, these
DSP algorithms are often built from many constituent canonical
subtasks (e.g., IIR and FIR filters, FFTs) that can be reused in
other subtasks. Design is then a problem of composing these core
entities into a cohesive whole to provide both the intended
functionality and the required performance. In order to organize
the design process, there have been two major approaches. The
top-down approach starts with an abstract, concise, functional
description which can be quickly generated. On the other hand, the
bottom-up approach starts from a detailed low-level design where
performance can be directly assessed, but where the requisite
design and interface detail take a long time to generate. In this
book, the authors show a way to effectively resolve this tension by
retaining the high-level conciseness of VHDL while parameterizing
it to get good fit to specific applications through reuse of core
library components. Since they build on a pre-designed set of core
elements, accurate area, speed and power estimates can be
percolated to high- level design routines which explore the design
space. Results are impressive, and the cost model provided will
prove to be very useful. Overall, the authors have provided an
up-to-date approach, doing a good job at getting performance out of
high-level design. The methodology provided makes good use of
extant design tools, and is realistic in terms of the industrial
design process. The approach is interesting in its own right, but
is also of direct utility, and it will give the existing DSP CAD
tools a highly competitive alternative. The techniques described
have been developed within ARPAs RASSP (Rapid Prototyping of
Application Specific Signal Processors) project, and should be of
great interest there, as well as to many industrial designers.
Professor Jonathan Allen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
One ofthe major drivers in biological research is the establishment
ofstructures and functions of the 50,000 or so proteins in our
bodies. Each has a characteristic- dimensional structure, highly
"ordered" yet "disordered"! This structure is essential for a
protein's function and, significantly, it must be sustained in the
competitive and complex environment of the living cell. It is now
being recognised that when a cell loses control, proteins can se-
assemble into more complex supermolecular structures such as the
amyloid fibres and plaques associated with the pathogenesis of
prion (CJD) or age-related (Alzheimer's) diseases. This is a
pointer to the wider significance of the self-assembling properties
of polypeptides. It has been long known that, in silk, polypeptides
are assembled into- sheet structures which impart on the material
its highly exploitable properties of flexibility combined with high
tensile strength. But only now emerging is the recognition that
peptides can Self-assemble into a wide variety of non-protein-like
structures, including fibrils, fibres, tubules, sheets and
monolayers. These are exciting observations and, more so, the
potential for materials and medical exploitations is so wide
ranging that over 80 scientists from Europe, USA, Japan and Israel.
met 1-6 July 1999 in Crete, to discuss the wide-ranging
implications of these novel developments. There was a spirit of
excitement about the workshop indicative of an important new
endeavor. The emerging perception is that of a new class of
materials set to become commercially viable early in the 21st
century.
One ofthe major drivers in biological research is the establishment
ofstructures and functions of the 50,000 or so proteins in our
bodies. Each has a characteristic- dimensional structure, highly
"ordered" yet "disordered"! This structure is essential for a
protein's function and, significantly, it must be sustained in the
competitive and complex environment of the living cell. It is now
being recognised that when a cell loses control, proteins can se-
assemble into more complex supermolecular structures such as the
amyloid fibres and plaques associated with the pathogenesis of
prion (CJD) or age-related (Alzheimer's) diseases. This is a
pointer to the wider significance of the self-assembling properties
of polypeptides. It has been long known that, in silk, polypeptides
are assembled into- sheet structures which impart on the material
its highly exploitable properties of flexibility combined with high
tensile strength. But only now emerging is the recognition that
peptides can Self-assemble into a wide variety of non-protein-like
structures, including fibrils, fibres, tubules, sheets and
monolayers. These are exciting observations and, more so, the
potential for materials and medical exploitations is so wide
ranging that over 80 scientists from Europe, USA, Japan and Israel.
met 1-6 July 1999 in Crete, to discuss the wide-ranging
implications of these novel developments. There was a spirit of
excitement about the workshop indicative of an important new
endeavor. The emerging perception is that of a new class of
materials set to become commercially viable early in the 21st
century.
From the Foreword..... Modern digital signal processing
applications provide a large challenge to the system designer.
Algorithms are becoming increasingly complex, and yet they must be
realized with tight performance constraints. Nevertheless, these
DSP algorithms are often built from many constituent canonical
subtasks (e.g., IIR and FIR filters, FFTs) that can be reused in
other subtasks. Design is then a problem of composing these core
entities into a cohesive whole to provide both the intended
functionality and the required performance. In order to organize
the design process, there have been two major approaches. The
top-down approach starts with an abstract, concise, functional
description which can be quickly generated. On the other hand, the
bottom-up approach starts from a detailed low-level design where
performance can be directly assessed, but where the requisite
design and interface detail take a long time to generate. In this
book, the authors show a way to effectively resolve this tension by
retaining the high-level conciseness of VHDL while parameterizing
it to get good fit to specific applications through reuse of core
library components. Since they build on a pre-designed set of core
elements, accurate area, speed and power estimates can be
percolated to high- level design routines which explore the design
space. Results are impressive, and the cost model provided will
prove to be very useful. Overall, the authors have provided an
up-to-date approach, doing a good job at getting performance out of
high-level design. The methodology provided makes good use of
extant design tools, and is realistic in terms of the industrial
design process. The approach is interesting in its own right, but
is also of direct utility, and it will give the existing DSP CAD
tools a highly competitive alternative. The techniques described
have been developed within ARPAs RASSP (Rapid Prototyping of
Application Specific Signal Processors) project, and should be of
great interest there, as well as to many industrial designers.
Professor Jonathan Allen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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