by William P. Birmingham and Anurag P. Gupta
English | 2018 by CRC Press | ISBN: 0867202416 | 293 Pages | PDF | 30 MB
Addressing the issues of engineering design in computer architecture, this book describes the design and implementation of MICON, a system for automating the synthesis of small computers. Originally published in 1992.
“We intend this book to appeal to a broad range of interests, including computer-aided design, artificial intelligence (AI) and concurrent engineering. Those in the fields of electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) and electronic computer-aided engineering (ECAE) will find a unique approach to a challenging ECAE problem. The research described in this book, however, will appeal to those studying design and automated knowledge acquisition in the AI community. MICON is, essentially, a configuration system, with much in common with such systems built for other engineering design disciplines, such as mechanical and civil engineering, with some interesting differences, of course. Because MICON is knowledge-based, it must be programmed with hardware design expertise. Thus, we have developed a knowledge-acquisition tool to support this exercise. Finally, those interested in concurrent engineering will find interest in the multiple expert approach to design used by MICON, where a synthesis expert is advised by a design-for-reliability expert on how to improve a design’s reliability. We also overview an interface to a mechanical rapid prototyping system, allowing us to design enclosures for the electronics simultaneously with designing them.
Our objective in writing this book is to explain MICON’s operation and to show experimental and anecdotal evidence that it works