Estimate power at RTL to identify problems early

Aniruddha Gupta & Himani Grover (Freescale)
EDN (August 05, 2015)

SoC power consumption is a key differentiating feature. The initial estimated power of the design is often less than the power use seen on silicon. This happens because there is no power estimation flow available that can accurately correlate power estimation results with the silicon results. Also, for parts that involves a lot of new design features & IP blocks, the exact gate count details are difficult to predict early in the flow.

In addition to more accurate power-estimation flow, there is a need for RTL-stage power estimation, offering the opportunity to reduce power early in the design. This paper discusses the basics of power estimation, and a power-estimation flow at RTL level, which should be known to everyone designing IP & SoCs.

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