Asynchronous Design—Part 2: Systems and Methodologies

This two-part article aims to provide both a short historical and technical overview of asynchronous design, as well as a snapshot of the state of the art. Part 1 covered foundations of asynchronous design, and highlighted recent applications, including commercial advances and use in emerging application areas. Part 2 focuses on methodologies for designing asynchronous systems, including basics of hazards, synthesis and optimization methods for both logic-level and high-level synthesis, and the development of specification languages and CAD tool flows. Finally, two sidebars provide a summary of asynchronous processors and architectures, as well as testing.