inf311 - Low Energy System Design (Complete module description)

This module introduces the estimation of power dissipation and optimisation.
Professional competence
The students:

• Discuss the fundamental problems of power dissipation
• Characterise the requirements-driven design process of embedded systems
• Name power loss analysis and optimization methods
• Design embedded systems with common design and analysis tools
• Design power-optimized embedded systems

Methodological competence
The students:

• Model systems with a hardware description language
• Analyze and model hardware components
• Perform multi-dimensional optimization of systems

Social competence 
The students:

• Implement solutions of given problems in teams
• Discuss their outcomes appropriately

Self-competence
The students:

• Acknowledge the limits of their ability to cope with pressure during the modeling process of systems

According to Moore’s Law the number of integratable transistors on a computer chip doubles every two years. In addition, new circuits are getting faster and faster. This leads not only to an increased functionality of a system, but it also increases the electrical power consumption. This electrical power consumption is problematic from two different points of view: Firstly, the electrical power must be supplied. Secondly, the resulting heat has to dissipate from the system. An increased power consumption always causes lower battery life and higher energy costs. The heat generation reduces the reliability and life of integrated circuits. The cooling (ceramic housings, cooling elements, fans, etc. ) increases the system's costs. Today the development of heat, caused by power dissipation, needs to be considered during the embedded system design process. This knowledge takes the system's reliability and operation costs into account. This module introduces the estimation of power dissipation and optimisation.

• Designing CMOS Circuits for Low Power – Dimitros Soudris, Christian Piguet, Costas Goutis
• Low-Power CMOS VLSI Circuit Design – Kaushik Roy, Sharat C. Prasad - Low-Power Electronics Design – Christian Piguet et al.
• Leakage in Nanometer CMOS Technologies – Siva G. Narendra, Anantha Chandrakasan
• Entwurf von digitalen Schaltungen und Systemen mit HDLs und FPGAs – F. Kesel, R. Bartholomä
• Slides of the module „Eingebettete Systeme I+II“ von Professor Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Nebel
• Slides and technical readouts of the used hardware and development tools

at the end of the lecture period

hands-on exercises and oral exam