Chapter 13: Enabling Survival Instincts in Electronic Systems: An Energy Perspective

Yakovlev, A

doi:10.1142/9781783266975_0013

Chapter 13: Enabling Survival Instincts in Electronic Systems: An Energy Perspective

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Alex Yakovlev

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Abstract

The writing of this chapter has been inspired by the motivating ideas of incorporating self-awareness into systems that have been studied by Professor Cheung in connection to dealing with variability and ageing in nano-scale electronics. We attempt here to exploit the opportunities for making systems self-aware, and taking it further, see them in a biological perspective of survival under harsh operating conditions. Survivability is developed here in the context of the availability of energy and power, where the notion of power-modulation will navigate us towards the incorporation into system design of the mechanisms analogous to instincts in human brain. These mechanisms are considered here through a set of novel techniques for reference-free sensing and elastic memory for data retention. This is only a beginning in the exploration of system design for survival, and many other developments such as design of self-aware communication fabric are further on the way.