Rational Control of Multi-level Stochastic Design
Preprint (6 pages)
Postscript (907KB)
PDF (144KB)
J. Storrs Hall,
Louis Steinberg, and
Brian D. Davison
Abstract
Search in a complex design space (e.g. in VLSI design) is only
feasible when it is factored into smaller ones. A common and useful
factoring is the hierarchy of abstraction levels, where each
abstraction level has a distinct ontology, evaluation function, and
search behavior. Such problems are then attacked by linking together a
number of stochastic search programs (e.g., multi-start hill
climbers), one for each level. At each point in the design process it
is necessary to choose whether to continue looking for a better design
at the current level, or working further on some design at a higher or
lower level. We present a rational, i.e. utility-based, method for
this choice, together with some experiments in the domain of VLSI
placement and routing.
Published in the
Proceedings of the
IASTED International Conference on Modelling and Simulation,
May 15-17, 1997, Pittsburgh, PA.
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Last modified: May 20, 1997
Brian D. Davison