The primiary purpose of this project is to develop architectural optimization tools with dramatically improved efficiency and accuracy. Tools will be developed in three inter-related categories. The first is a comprehensive semi-automated methodology for simultaneously exploring the microprocessor and system level design spaces. The second is a hardware emulator coupled to software simulation. The third parallelizes the search for an optimum using a network of workstations. The end result, called ROADS, will have dramatically improved efficiency and accuracy over existing methods. ROADS will form the centerpiece of a new course sequence that will integrate the topics of computer architecture and implementation. Multilevel simulation will allow students to address a much wider scope of design problems than the simulators used in most current curricula. The result will be a new generation of engineers better prepared to both design and implement new computing architectures.
