METRICS: a system architecture for design process optimization

We describe METRICS, a system to recover design productivity via new infrastructure for design process optimization. METRICS seeks to treat system design and implementation as a science, rather than an art. A key precept is that measuring a design process is a prerequisite to optimizing it and continuously achieving maximum productivity. METRICS (i) unobtrusively gathers characteristics of design artifacts, design process, and communications during the system development effort, and (ii) analyzes and compares that data to analogous data from prior efforts. METRICS infrastructure consists of (i) a standard metrics schema, along with metrics transmittal capabilities embedded directly into EDA tools or into wrappers around tools; (ii) a metrics data warehouse and metrics reports; and (iii) data mining and visualization capabilities for project prediction, tracking, and diagnosis. We give experiences and insights gained from development and deployment of METRICS within a leading SOC design flow.