VHDL-AMS Survey and Call for Participation
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VHDL-AMS Survey and Call for Participation
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The VHDL-AMS hardware description language is an extension of the VHDL
language used since the late 1980s. Supporting the description and simulation
of analog and mixed-signal devices, VHDL-AMS was first standardized as IEEE
Std 1076.1 in 1999 and subsequently revised in 2007. VHDL-AMS is supported by
tools from all the major EDA vendors as well as some of the smaller vendors,
and it has been used in a variety of applications, mostly in IC and system
design.
The IEEE P1076.1 Working Group is now starting with another revision of the
language, and it is asking for your help. First, the WG has collected a number
of possible language extensions, and it requests your input regarding the
relative priority of these extensions. Second, the WG is looking for new
members willing to participate in the work to define the language extensions.
Participation in the work of the Working Group can take on many forms,
including but not limited to:
* collection of detailed requirements
* review and approval of requirements
* definition of language extensions based on requirements
* review of language extensions
* creation of a new standard package
* testing of a new standard package
As you can see, the creation or extension of a standard requires many
different skills. If you are interested in participating, please contact the
WG Chair Ernst Christen, christen.1858@verizon.net. You can also find
additional information about the IEEE P1076.1 Working Group at
http://www.eda.org/vhdl-ams.
An overview of the projects considered for the upcoming revision of VHDL-AMS
can be found at http://www.eda.org/twiki/bin/view.cgi/P10761/ProjectsArea.
There are three kinds of projects. *Upgrade Projects* and *Maintenance
Projects* are mandatory for the revision as they are related to incorporating
the changes in the base VHDL language and the 1076.1.1 companion standard into
VHDL-AMS. The section *New Feature Projects* describes the projects for which
we are requesting guidance. These projects have been proposed by users of
VHDL-AMS over the past few years.
We would like you as a user of, or a person otherwise interested in, the VHDL-
AMS language to give each New Feature Project a grade in the range
1 to 10 to reflect the importance this project has for you and your work, with
10 being the highest grade. We will then tally the responses, together with
responses we received from the Working Group, to determine the priorities for
these projects. The priorities may affect which projects will be included in
the next revision of VHDL-AMS, depending on the number of people participating
in the work to define these extensions. The New Feature Projects are:
........... Mixed netlists
........... Frequency domain modeling
........... Support for partial differential equations
........... Table-driven modeling
........... Vector/matrix operations
........... Unified use of SPICE models in different tools
Please grade each project according to the importance it has for you and your
work. Enter the grade in the space provided. You are also welcome to submit at
this time requests for additional new features to include in VHDL-AMS. We will
consider such requests to the extent possible in the upcoming revision. Enter
your suggestions in the space below.
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Return the completed questionnaire with your grades and suggestions to the
Chair of the IEEE P1076.1 Working Group: Ernst Christen,
christen.1858@verizon.net, by April 30, 2010.
Please also forward this email to other people that might be interested in
either providing feedback to the WG or participating in the work to define the
language extensions.
We are looking forward to your input and your help. If you have any questions
please do not hesitate to contact me.
Ernst Christen
Chair, IEEE P1076.1 Working Group
email: christen.1858@verizon.net
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