EECS 298-11: CAD Seminar
Wednesday, April 26, 5pm
531 Cory Hall, Hogan Room

                     Dataflow Process Networks
       
                            Tom Parks
                           UC Berkeley

I will review a model of computation called "dataflow process networks" and
discuss some of its formal properties.  Dataflow process networks are a special
case of Kahn process networks, a model of computation where concurrent
processes communicate by passing streams of data through first-in first-out
(FIFO) channels.  These channels have unbounded capacity, so a process never
blocks when writing to a channel.  Processes will block when reading from an
empty channel.  A dataflow process consists of repeated firings of a dataflow
actor.  By dividing processes into actor firings, it becomes possible to
compile away the overhead of synchronization and context switching.


Future Seminars:

May 3    - Antun Domic, Cadence
           "Some problems in submicron technology and their effect on design 
            methods and CAD tools"

May 5    - Georges Gielen, KU-Leuven (Special seminar, Friday, 2PM)
           "Research Developments in Analog CAD at KU-Leuven"

May 10   - Stan Liao, MIT
           "Code Generation and Optimization for Embedded DSP Processors"

End of semester