The petrol approach to high-level power estimation

High-level power estimation is essential for designing complex low-power ICs. However, the lack of flexibility, or restriction to synthesizable code of previously presented high-level power estimation approaches limits their use. In this paper we present a novel, more general and flexible high-level power estimation approach, that avoids these limitations. Petrol, as we call it, is not limited to specialized application domains, synthesizable VHDL, or data path parts of a design. We show that glitches can be modeled at higher levels of abstraction. The Petrol approach shows good correlation with gate-level power estimates. It is currently used for commercial designs.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1998
• Where: ISLPED
• Authors: Rafael Peset Llopis, Kees G. W. Goossens
• Keywords: Complex Low-power Ics, Estimation Approaches Limits, Hardware, ISLPED 1998, Power Estimation Approach