Advanced benchmarks derived from industrial ASIC designs that can be used to perform placement and global routing. These benchmarks are representative of modern designs with numerous placement blockages, more metal layers, varying metal width and spacing across layers, etc.
A standardized set of metric(s) and framework to evaluate and compare the routability of placement algorithms.
May 13, 2012 (SUN):
The deadline to submit the final version of the contest binaries is now extended to May 20, 2012 (Sunday).
Updates to the "Evaluation and Ranking" section:
Final version of the NCTUgr global router. Verify that the README file in the archive specifies CRV2.0 as the contest release version.
A second global router "BFG-R" that will also be used to evaluate the placement solutions. Contest release version CRV1.0.
Updated version of the DAC-2012 contest evaluation script.
Apr 17, 2012 (TUE): Two more contest benchmarks (superblue11 and superblue12) are now available under the "DAC 2012 Contest Benchmarks" section.
For superblue11, pay attention to the superblue11.scl file. The lower-left corner of this design is blocked.
The superblue12 benchmark has more than 1 million movable nodes. This should test the scalability of the placers.
Mar 27, 2012 (TUE): The "Evaluation and Ranking" section has been updated with the following:
The preliminary version of the global router that will be used as the contest evaluation tool.
The DAC-2012 contest evaluation script.
The DAC-2012 contest flow and evaluation metric.
Jan 30, 2012 (MON): The second contest benchmark (superblue19) is now available under the "DAC 2012 Contest Benchmarks" section.
A key feature of this benchmark is that the name hierarchy associated with each node is given. Contestants are free to use the name hierarchy information in any manner during placement.
Jan 05, 2012 (THU): Contest website is online.
This website will serve as the primary means
of information sharing regarding the contest. Check back frequently for key updates,
benchmarks, announcements and to keep track of the contest schedule. For easy navigation,
key links are available on the top of every page.
To start the contest, the first contest benchmark is now available under the "DAC 2012 Contest Benchmarks" section.
Teams are advised
to read the file "Benchmark_Description.pdf" under the "DAC 2012 Contest Benchmarks"
section.
This file gives a detailed explanation of the benchmark format, utility scripts and special
features for both placement and routing.
| Jan 05, 2012 |
Release contest website with benchmark description, submission guidelines,
utility scripts, etc. Release preliminary version of the first contest benchmark. |
| Jan 2012 mid - third week | Release preliminary version of the second contest benchmark. |
| Feb 2012 fourth week |
Release global routing based contest evaluation tool, finalized contest
evaluation metric and evaluation script. |
| Mar 2012 first week | Release second set of contest benchmarks (two in number). |
| Mar 31, 2012 |
Receive alpha (preliminary) binaries from all teams. NOTE: If a team is not able to generate legal placement solutions on the four benchmarks by this deadline, they will not go forward in the contest. Placement legality will be checked using the dac2012_check_legality script (under Utility Scripts). |
| May 20, 2012 | Final submission of binaries for contest evaluation. |
| May 21-31, 2012 | DAC 2012 routability-driven placement contest and evaluation. |
| Jun 3-7, 2012 | DAC 2012. Announce contest results. |
Contest organizer/administrator: Natarajan Viswanathan, IBM Corporation.
Please send all emails regarding the contest to nviswan@us.ibm.com.
Please add DAC2012_Contest to the subject line for any emails regarding the contest.