Table of Acronyms and Abbreviations (submitted by Randolph E. Harr, C.A.D.onomist) Commercial Version 27 Jul 1989 ACM Association for Computing Machinery U.S. Based non-profit professional society. Known for its publications and conferences. Cooperates with ANSI on setting standards. ALU Arithmetic Logic Unit A term given to a hardware design which takes in instruction codes which define a mathematical transformation and performs the transformation on operands that are input. The result of the transformation and various status signals are provided as output. ANSI American National Standards Institute The U.S. based standards adopting organization. ARTEMIS Atelier De Recherches Sur Les Techniques Mathematiques Et Informatiques Des Systemes The research organization of France which is supporting CASCADE and VHDL synthesis research. ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit An integrated circuit designed for inclusion in a specific application by a system designer; as opposed to a Merchant Semiconductor or Commercial Component. Generally tend to be Gate Array or Semi-custom (standard cell) designs. Can also be fully custom as is provided by Silicon Compiler Systems. ATPG Automatic Test Pattern (Program) Generation A term used for languages geared to describing stimulus for Units under Test (UuT's). Typically, an abstraction of the language necessary to drive a hardware tester. The IEEE standards committee SCC-20 has an ATPG working group which has proposed the ATLAS language as a standard in this area. BIST Built-In Self Test A designation for a methodology of designing testable integrated circuits. BSI British Standards Institute The United Kingdoms' standards making organization. CAD Computer Aided Design A general term for the field of computer software and hardware systems aimed at helping with the design and production of (electronic) systems. Original systems simply allowed a designer to draw schematics, thus alleviating the need for a draftsman. For this reason, historically the term stood for Computer Aided Drafting and generally is applied more to mechanical / geometric design systems, especially airframes, automobiles, and computer cabinets and circuit boards. CAE Computer Aided Engineering A general term for the field of computer software and hardware systems aimed at helping an electronics or computer engineer design electronic systems. More commonly applied to digital electronics but also applied to analog design systems. CAM Computer Aided Manufacturing A general term for the field of computer software and hardware systems aimed at helping take a complete specification of an object to be manufactured and generate all the necessary information to control the actual machines on the factory floor. CASCADE ? A CONLAN like language developed and supported in France. CCITT Comite Consultatif Internationale de Telegraphique et Telephonique An agency of the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union which sets standards for telephone and data communications systems. CFI CAD Framework Initiative A non-profit industry consortium organized in 1988 to study ways to standardize CAE/CAD/CAM tools in commercial use. Overlaps with the military's EIS effort. CIF CalTech Intermediate Format A format for describing Integrated Circuit Mask Layout information popularized by the publication of the book "Introduction to VLSI Systems" in 1981. CIM Computer Integrated Manufacturing A general term for the application of computer hardware and software in automating a manufacturing center. This generally consists of computers linked and distributed through out the factory and used to control the conveyors and machines; and direct the workers of non-automated equipment. CONLAN Consensus Language An international working group focused on developing a common communication language for design descriptions. Started in 1973, it released a detailed report in 1983 of the results obtained. CPU Central Processing Unit The term given to the core unit of a modern computer. It usually includes an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) for doing mathematical calculations, instruction fetch and execution units, and a control unit. CS The Computer Society The largest society of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). DAC Design Automation Conference The main CAE/CAD industry conference sponsored by the ACM SIGDA and IEEE CS DATC. Originally an IBM meeting of internal groups interested in design automation. DASS Design Automation Standards Subcommittee A standards making group of the Computer Society of the IEEEs' Design Automation Technical Committee (DATC). DATC Design Automation Technical Committee The father of the DASS organization which standardized VHDL. A committee of the Computer Society of the IEEE. DIN ? The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) standards adopting organization. DPU Data Processing Unit An archaic term in the commercial world, more generally used in defense system contractors to represent the mathematic execution or processing unit only of a CPU. The instruction control, fetch, and decode units are not part of this unit. DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory An integrated circuit implementation of a RAM which uses pulsed current to refresh the storage periodically. Allows for much denser circuitry (usually a single transistor or capacitor per memory bit as opposed to six or more for a SRAM) and lower operating power. But lengthens access time and requires extra circuitry to continually scan each memory element and refresh its contents. EDIF Electronic Design Interchange Format An EIA standard (EIA-548, May 1987, v2 0 0) developed by an ad-hoc committee of C.A.E. and commercial semiconductor companies. Originally intended to replace CALMA's GDS-II and CIF as the standard interchange format for integrated circuit geometric mask layout data. Has expanded to include general topology and geometric information of board schematics. EIA Electronic Industries Association A non-profit corporate society which represents the interests of electronic companies and assists in setting standards among the members. ELLA Electronic Logic Language A language and design system developed at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, Ministry of Defense, United Kingdom. It has been approved as a standard by the BSI and is marketed by PRAXIS, Ltd. GDS-II ? A format for describing Integrated Circuit Mask Layout information which was developed and used in CALMA products. CALMA was one of the original companies to develop CAD systems for integrated circuit layout; which led to the replacement of hand-cutting rubylith sheets in the generation of photolithographic masks. HDL Hardware Description (Design) Language The general term for languages used in the design of electronic hardware, more recently focused at digital electronics and behavioral discrete event simulation languages. HHDL Helix Hardware Description Language A behavioral HDL product of Silvar-Lisco which was developed from the Stanford ADLIB languages. Helix is the name of the simulator which exercises descriptions of HHDL. The topological information was expressed in the SDL language developed from SABLE at Stanford. HSL-FX A Hierarchical Specification Language - Function Extension An HDL developed at NTT in Japan and being promoted as the Japanese standard HDL. As a design language, includes more of the design spectrum than VHDL by explicitly incorporating transistor level modeling and firmware / microcode development capabilities. IEEE Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers U.S. Based non-profit professional society known for its conferences, publications, and standards. Consists of societies of which the largest is The Computer Society. IFIP International Federation for Information Processing An international organization of professionals in the information processing industry. Sponsors Working Groups (WG) on specific topics. For example, WG 10.2 established in 1978 with a charter to explore digital system description and design tools for standardization. IGES Initial Graphics Exchange Specification An industry developed standard for the description and interchange of CAD/CAM information. More recently, aligned towards printed circuit board information and the manufacture of boards. The current version (v4.0 draft 2, 87 Jul) is also an ANSI standard (ANSI/Y-14.26). IPC Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits Started in 1971, their Computer-Aided Technology Committee has developed five (5) standards in the area of interchange formats for board level description data. The first three (IPC-D-350B, - 351, and -352) were adopted by ANSI and the DoD also. The last two (IPC-D-353, -354) are still in draft mode. ISAC Issues Subgroup and Analysis Committee The core working group of experts within the VASG who are attempting to resolve issues involving the IEEE standard 1076-1987 LRM. ISO International Standards Organization An international federation of national standards organizations. ISP Instruction Set Processor A notation developed by Gordon Bell and others at Carnegie Mellon University to describe the Parallel nature of register transfers in defining Central Processing Unit (CPU) Architectures. The language was popularized in the book "Computer Structures: Readings and Examples" published in 1972; and used by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) to define the architectures of their PDP family of computers. Language implementations of the notation are ISPS and ISP'. ISP' Instruction Set Processor (prime) A language developed from the ISP notation at Case Western Reserve University as part of the N.mPc system. The language and system was later used as the basis for a company, named Endot, Inc., which marketed the next generation product based on the original University tool. ISPS Instruction Set Processor S? A language developed at Carnegie Mellon University from the ISP notation. Used as the basis for large, extensive digital design automation system. JEDEC Joint Electron Devices Engineering Committee An EIA committee. JTAG Joint Test Action Group Formed in 1985 to develop a testability framework. A working group now under the Computer Society of the IEEEs' Test Technology Technical Committee (TTTC). Has taken the TM and ETM-Bus specifications of the DoD as a basis for the new set of draft IEEE standards numbered 1149.x. KARL Kaiserslautern Register Transfer Language An HDL developed at Kaiserslautern University in the Federal Republic of Germany. LRM Language Reference Manual Most commonly seen in conjunction with VHDL. The IEEE Standard 1076-1987 document is named the IEEE Standard VHDL Language Reference Manual. LSSD Level Sensitive Scan Design The fore runner of scan design techniques; invented at IBM. Provides for more testable designs of digital integrated circuits by linking all storage elements of a circuit into a large shift register which can be loaded or read. MTBF Mean Time Between Failures / Mean Time Before Fault NIAM Nijssen Information Analysis Methodology NTT Nippon Telephone and Telegraph PLA Programmed Logic Array PLD Programmed Logic Device PMS Processor - Memory - Switch A notation developed at Carnegie Mellon University for describing the interconnection of main design units in a mini-computer. A naming convention was developed along with the notation, leading to the proliferation of acronyms such as C.mmP, C.*, and N.mPc. The notation is the topological counterpart to ISP. PROM Programmable ROM See ROM. RAM Random Access Memory A general term, commonly referring to the integrated circuit which implements it, used to describe a digital memory which can be written to (storage) and read from (retrieval). The memory is broken up into units, usually words or bits, which are each accessible independent of the others. The converse of this is a stream or serial access memory, as is usually seen with tape devices. REVCOM Standards Review Committee The IEEEs' organization which reviews documents relating to a proposed standard and approves the adoption as a standard if certain guidelines have been met. ROM Read Only Memory A general term similar to RAM but where the device can only be read from (retrieval). It is only written once (write once) or manufactured with the information stored in it. Also commonly referred to as PROM for Programmable Read Only Memory. PROM's are special write once integrated circuit devices. SCC Standards Coordinating Committee A committee under the IEEE which coordinates and sets standards of interest among two or more societies. For example, SCC-20 is the Test and Tester language standard committee. SESS Software Engineering Standards Subcommittee A standards making group of The Computer Society of the IEEEs' Software Engineering Technical Committee (SETC). SIGDA Special Interest Group on Design Automation A sub-group of the ACM which focuses all the design automation activities. Co-Sponsors the Design Automation Conference with the IEEE CS DATC. SIGGRAPE Special Interest Group on Wine An informal collection of people which traditionally meet after the SIGDA meeting at the DAC to eat, drink, and be merry. SRAM Static Random Access Memory An integrated circuit implementation of a RAM which uses continuous current to keep the storage active. Usually very fast access times available but take more power than DRAM's. STACK Standard Computer Kompenten International, industrial committee originated in FRG and focused on defining electronic means of exchanging documentation on commercial components. TEGAS Test Generation and Simulation language The original functional description language of the CALMA design system -- one of the first commercial HDL's for logic design. TI-HDL Texas Instruments - Hardware Description Language An early, pioneering HDL developed at Texas Instruments. TTTC Test Technology Technical Committee The father of the JTAG organization which is standardizing test busses. A committee of the Computer Society of the IEEE. VASG VHDL Analysis and Standardization Group A sub-group of the DASS which developed the IEEE VHDL 1076 from the DoD VHDL 7.2 standard; and continues efforts to maintain the standard. VIFASG VHDL Intermediate Form and Analysis Standardization Group A sub-group of the DASS which is developing a standard intermediate representation of VHDL for use among tool vendors. VMDV VHDL Model Development and Validation An EIA promoted consortium for the development of VHDL models of commercial component parts.