COLLOQUIUM
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of South Carolina
 
VLSI Systems Engineering: Challenges and Opportunities
James P. Davis, Ph.D.
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of South Carolina 

Date: February 15, 2002 (Friday)
Time:  3:30-4:30PM
Place: Swearingen 1A03 (Faculty Lounge)

Abstract

We have entered a period of incredible acceleration of change in
society.  A large portion of this change has come as a result of the
rippling effects brought about by the innovations and subsequent
application of VLSI systems technology to a wide array of products and
services.  With trends towards increasing mobility, miniaturization,
convergence and intelligence, the very definition of computing is
changing.  The intense pressure on VLSI component and systems
designers in creating such systems against a backdrop of growing
technical and economic constraints is daunting.

This talk will present one area in which solutions to alleviate some
of this pressure is being sought, through the development of
technologies, methods, processes and tools for creating systems in
silicon (or, Systems-On-a-Chip, SOC).  The objective of SOC approaches
is to better manage design complexity through applying better design
planning and decision-making, and by using electronic systems design
"best practices."  These objectives challenge the electronics industry
as a whole to create a new generation of methods and tools to help the
systems design community address this growing disparity between device
technology capacity (being aggravated further as we push from
micro-electronics VLSI into the nano-electronics realm) and designer
capability.  In so doing, it is believed that increased levels of
design reuse, more effective hardware-software co-design practices,
greater integration of hardware and software-based functionality into
convergent packaging, and greater availability of downstream
electronic device knowledge earlier in the design process will enable
more effective execution of the electronics systems design activity as
a whole.

Electronics systems make the "world go 'round" and SOC approaches
promise to make electronic- based systems design much more manageable
and effective in delivering the kinds of electronics- based products
that drive the global economy.

James P. Davis is an associate professor in the Department of Computer
Science and Engineering at the University of South Carolina.  Prior to
joining the faculty, Dr. Davis had spent most of the past 25 years in
industry as a design engineer, engineering manager and engineering
technology executive with a number of globally-focused technology
companies, including several tech start-ups.  During his career, he
has practiced his engineering discipline in applied R&D, working to
balance the sometimes-conflicting objectives associated with
scientific/engineering soundness and market-focused product
development.  Dr. Davis has published more than 35 papers in areas of
VLSI design methods, Database design, Knowledge Acquisition for expert
systems, Expert systems in manufacturing, and Object-oriented/agent-
oriented design methods applied in Healthcare and other domains.  He
received his BSEE, MSEE and Ph.D. degrees from the University of South
Carolina.  He is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu engineering
honor societies, and ACM, IEEE, AAAI and AMIA professional societies.