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Xuan Zeng

Publications and source records attributed to Xuan Zeng.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

FlexRC: A Flexible Multi-Point Model Order Reduction Method for Many-Port RC Networks

Efficient model order reduction for many-port resistor-capacitor (RC) networks is essential in post-layout circuit simulation. Existing high-accuracy elimination-based methods have certain limitations, such as fixed frequency points, large reduced-order models, or high reduction cost. This paper proposes FlexRC, a flexible multi-point model order reduction method for many-port RC networks. FlexRC starts from the same elimination step as previous methods, and then constructs a nonorthogonal projection basis by a modified block rational Arnoldi process to generate a sparse banded reduced model. FlexRC features three adjustable components: user-specified frequency points, a tolerance-controlled port-reduction technique for the internal subsystem, and an optional sparsity-control strategy. We discuss passivity under port-reduction perturbations, analyze moment matching, and provide a conservative error estimate for port reduction. Numerical experiments on industrial RC examples and IBM power-grid examples demonstrate the effectiveness of FlexRC in terms of reduction time and transient simulation time.

eess.SY

LLM-Assisted Op-Amp Behavioral-Level Design via Agentic Human-Mimicking Reasoning

This paper proposes White-Op, an operational amplifier (op-amp) behavioral-level parameter design framework assisted by the human-mimicking reasoning of large language model agents. A symbolic reasoning-numerical solving decoupled paradigm is adopted: the agent performs step-by-step symbolic reasoning and formulates the design as a white-box optimization problem, which is then solved programmatically, verified via simulation, and refined iteratively. To guide this symbolic design process, implicit human reasoning mechanisms are formalized into explicit steps of introducing hypothetical constraints during transfer function simplification, pole-zero extraction and position regulation, converting design heuristics into mathematical formulations. A programming mapping protocol then standardizes the translation from symbolic designs to executable programs. Finally, a causality-driven refinement loop enables the agent to trace simulation-theory mismatches back to specific symbolic reasoning steps and make targeted corrections iteratively until convergence. Experiments on 9 op-amp topologies demonstrate that White-Op achieves interpretable behavioral-level designs with an average of 8.52\% theoretical prediction error and retains circuit functionality after transistor-level mapping for all topologies, whereas black-box baselines fail in 5 to 7 topologies. White-Op is open-sourced at https://github.com/zhchenfdu/whiteop.

cs.AI

SMP-RCR: A Sparse Multipoint Moment Matching Method for RC Reduction

In post--layout circuit simulation, efficient model order reduction (MOR) for many--port resistor--capacitor (RC) circuits remains a crucial issue. The current mainstream MOR methods for such circuits include high--order moment matching methods and elimination methods. High-order moment matching methods--characterized by high accuracy, such as PRIMA and TurboMOR--tend to generate large dense reduced-order systems when the number of ports is large, which impairs the efficiency of MOR. Another common type of MOR method for many--port circuits is based on Gaussian elimination, with the SIP method as a representative. The main limitation of this method lies in the inadequate matching of high--order moments. In this paper, we propose a sparse multipoint moment matching method and present comprehensive theoretical analysis results regarding the multi--frequency high--order moment matching property. Meanwhile, to enhance the algorithm's efficiency, sparse control and deflation techniques are introduced to further optimize the algorithm. Numerical experiments demonstrated that, compared to SIP, the accuracy is improved by more than two orders of magnitude at high frequency points without adding many extra linear components. Compared to TurboMOR methods, our method achieves a speed improvement of more than twice while maintaining the same level of precision.

eess.SY

Hypernuclear structure with the new leading order covariant chiral hyperon-nucleon force

We have studied single-$\Lambda$ finite hypernuclear systems spanning from light to heavy masses, employing a new microscopic Lambda-N interaction derived from in-medium interactions within relativistic Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculations using the leading-order covariant chiral hyperon-nucleon force. Without any adjustable parameters, we have successfully reproduced the experimental results for the single-Lambda binding energies. Although some discrepancies persist in light hypernuclei, the overall calculated binding energies show excellent agreement with the experimental data, and outperforming other microscopic interactions. This study further demonstrates the validity of the leading-order covariant chiral hyperon-nucleon potential and provides a practical set of microscopic interactions for the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock framework.

nucl-th

Dataset Construction for Training LLM to Learn Analog Circuit Knowledge

This paper constructs a textual dataset for training large language models (LLMs) to learn analog circuit knowledge and customizes LLM training techniques. For dataset construction, high-quality textbooks are collected and decomposed into fine-grained learning nodes, which are then used to construct structured question-thinking-solution-answer (QTSA) quadruples using a multi-agent framework to capture both final answers and thought processes. The resulting dataset consists of 7.26M tokens of unlabeled data for continual pre-training (CPT) and 112.65M tokens of labeled data for supervised fine-tuning (SFT). We customize the training techniques including initial model selection, training paradigms, regularization techniques, and practical implementation references. Instruct models are identified as suitable training initialization points, an SFT-centric training paradigm is established (finding that CPT provides marginal benefits compared with SFT due to imbalanced data distribution), and SFT with KL divergence regularization can achieve a 2.71 percentage-point improvement over SFT alone. A practical training implementation method is provided for resource-constrained scenarios. Experiments demonstrate that the dataset and training techniques enhance LLMs' analog circuit knowledge. The trained 32B instruct model achieves 84.59% accuracy on the AMSBench-TQA benchmark, showing a 15.67 percentage-point improvement over the initial model. The trained model also shows capability in the operational amplifier design task based on the Atelier framework.

cs.AR

The Power of Graph Signal Processing for Chip Placement Acceleration

Placement is a critical task with high computation complexity in VLSI physical design. Modern analytical placers formulate the placement objective as a nonlinear optimization task, which suffers a long iteration time. To accelerate and enhance the placement process, recent studies have turned to deep learning-based approaches, particularly leveraging graph convolution networks (GCNs). However, learning-based placers require time- and data-consuming model training due to the complexity of circuit placement that involves large-scale cells and design-specific graph statistics. This paper proposes GiFt, a parameter-free technique for accelerating placement, rooted in graph signal processing. GiFt excels at capturing multi-resolution smooth signals of circuit graphs to generate optimized placement solutions without the need for time-consuming model training, and meanwhile significantly reduces the number of iterations required by analytical placers. Experimental results show that GiFt significantly improving placement efficiency, while achieving competitive or superior performance compared to state-of-the-art placers. In particular, compared to DREAMPlace, the recently proposed GPU-accelerated analytical placer, GF-Placer improves total runtime over 45%.

cs.LG

AnalogGym: An Open and Practical Testing Suite for Analog Circuit Synthesis

Recent advances in machine learning (ML) for automating analog circuit synthesis have been significant, yet challenges remain. A critical gap is the lack of a standardized evaluation framework, compounded by various process design kits (PDKs), simulation tools, and a limited variety of circuit topologies. These factors hinder direct comparisons and the validation of algorithms. To address these shortcomings, we introduced AnalogGym, an open-source testing suite designed to provide fair and comprehensive evaluations. AnalogGym includes 30 circuit topologies in five categories: sensing front ends, voltage references, low dropout regulators, amplifiers, and phase-locked loops. It supports several technology nodes for academic and commercial applications and is compatible with commercial simulators such as Cadence Spectre, Synopsys HSPICE, and the open-source simulator Ngspice. AnalogGym standardizes the assessment of ML algorithms in analog circuit synthesis and promotes reproducibility with its open datasets and detailed benchmark specifications. AnalogGym's user-friendly design allows researchers to easily adapt it for robust, transparent comparisons of state-of-the-art methods, while also exposing them to real-world industrial design challenges, enhancing the practical relevance of their work. Additionally, we have conducted a comprehensive comparison study of various analog sizing methods on AnalogGym, highlighting the capabilities and advantages of different approaches. AnalogGym is available in the GitHub repository https://github.com/CODA-Team/AnalogGym. The documentation is also available at http://coda-team.github.io/AnalogGym/.

cs.AR

Physically Aware Synthesis Revisited: Guiding Technology Mapping with Primitive Logic Gate Placement

A typical VLSI design flow is divided into separated front-end logic synthesis and back-end physical design (PD) stages, which often require costly iterations between these stages to achieve design closure. Existing approaches face significant challenges, notably in utilizing feedback from physical metrics to better adapt and refine synthesis operations, and in establishing a unified and comprehensive metric. This paper introduces a new Primitive logic gate placement guided technology MAPping (PigMAP) framework to address these challenges. With approximating technology-independent spatial information, we develop a novel wirelength (WL) driven mapping algorithm to produce PD-friendly netlists. PigMAP is equipped with two schemes: a performance mode that focuses on optimizing the critical path WL to achieve high performance, and a power mode that aims to minimize the total WL, resulting in balanced power and performance outcomes. We evaluate our framework using the EPFL benchmark suites with ASAP7 technology, using the OpenROAD tool for place-and-route. Compared with OpenROAD flow scripts, performance mode reduces delay by 14% while increasing power consumption by only 6%. Meanwhile, power mode achieves a 3% improvement in delay and a 9% reduction in power consumption.

cs.LO

The Dawn of AI-Native EDA: Opportunities and Challenges of Large Circuit Models

Within the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) domain, AI-driven solutions have emerged as formidable tools, yet they typically augment rather than redefine existing methodologies. These solutions often repurpose deep learning models from other domains, such as vision, text, and graph analytics, applying them to circuit design without tailoring to the unique complexities of electronic circuits. Such an AI4EDA approach falls short of achieving a holistic design synthesis and understanding, overlooking the intricate interplay of electrical, logical, and physical facets of circuit data. This paper argues for a paradigm shift from AI4EDA towards AI-native EDA, integrating AI at the core of the design process. Pivotal to this vision is the development of a multimodal circuit representation learning technique, poised to provide a comprehensive understanding by harmonizing and extracting insights from varied data sources, such as functional specifications, RTL designs, circuit netlists, and physical layouts. We champion the creation of large circuit models (LCMs) that are inherently multimodal, crafted to decode and express the rich semantics and structures of circuit data, thus fostering more resilient, efficient, and inventive design methodologies. Embracing this AI-native philosophy, we foresee a trajectory that transcends the current innovation plateau in EDA, igniting a profound shift-left in electronic design methodology. The envisioned advancements herald not just an evolution of existing EDA tools but a revolution, giving rise to novel instruments of design tools that promise to radically enhance design productivity and inaugurate a new epoch where the optimization of circuit performance, power, and area (PPA) is achieved not incrementally, but through leaps that redefine the benchmarks of electronic systems' capabilities.

cs.AR

A Semi-Tensor Product based Circuit Simulation for SAT-sweeping

In recent years, circuit simulators and Boolean satisfiability (SAT) solvers have been tightly integrated to provide efficient logic synthesis and verification. Circuit simulation can generate highly expressive simulation patterns that can either enumerate or filter out most candidates for synthesis. Subsequently, SAT solvers are employed to check those that remain, thereby making the logic synthesis process more efficient. This paper introduces a novel circuit simulator of k-input lookup table (k-LUT) networks, based on semi-tensor product (STP). STP-based simulators use computation of logic matrices, the primitives of logic networks, as opposed to relying on bitwise logic operations for simulation of k-LUT networks. Experimental results show that our STP-based simulator reduces the runtime by an average of 7.2x. Furthermore, we integrate this proposed simulator into a SAT-sweeping engine known as SAT sweeper. Through a combination of structural hashing, simulation, and SAT queries, SAT sweeper simplifies logic networks by systematically merging graph vertices from input to output. To enhance the efficiency, we used STP-based exhaustive simulation, which significantly reduces the number of false equivalence class candidates, thereby improving the computational efficiency by reducing the number of SAT calls required. When compared to the SOTA SAT sweeper, our method demonstrates an average 35% runtime reduction.

cs.LO

RingMo-lite: A Remote Sensing Multi-task Lightweight Network with CNN-Transformer Hybrid Framework

In recent years, remote sensing (RS) vision foundation models such as RingMo have emerged and achieved excellent performance in various downstream tasks. However, the high demand for computing resources limits the application of these models on edge devices. It is necessary to design a more lightweight foundation model to support on-orbit RS image interpretation. Existing methods face challenges in achieving lightweight solutions while retaining generalization in RS image interpretation. This is due to the complex high and low-frequency spectral components in RS images, which make traditional single CNN or Vision Transformer methods unsuitable for the task. Therefore, this paper proposes RingMo-lite, an RS multi-task lightweight network with a CNN-Transformer hybrid framework, which effectively exploits the frequency-domain properties of RS to optimize the interpretation process. It is combined by the Transformer module as a low-pass filter to extract global features of RS images through a dual-branch structure, and the CNN module as a stacked high-pass filter to extract fine-grained details effectively. Furthermore, in the pretraining stage, the designed frequency-domain masked image modeling (FD-MIM) combines each image patch's high-frequency and low-frequency characteristics, effectively capturing the latent feature representation in RS data. As shown in Fig. 1, compared with RingMo, the proposed RingMo-lite reduces the parameters over 60% in various RS image interpretation tasks, the average accuracy drops by less than 2% in most of the scenes and achieves SOTA performance compared to models of the similar size. In addition, our work will be integrated into the MindSpore computing platform in the near future.

cs.CV

LinEasyBO: Scalable Bayesian Optimization Approach for Analog Circuit Synthesis via One-Dimensional Subspaces

A large body of literature has proved that the Bayesian optimization framework is especially efficient and effective in analog circuit synthesis. However, most of the previous research works only focus on designing informative surrogate models or efficient acquisition functions. Even if searching for the global optimum over the acquisition function surface is itself a difficult task, it has been largely ignored. In this paper, we propose a fast and robust Bayesian optimization approach via one-dimensional subspaces for analog circuit synthesis. By solely focusing on optimizing one-dimension subspaces at each iteration, we greatly reduce the computational overhead of the Bayesian optimization framework while safely maximizing the acquisition function. By combining the benefits of different dimension selection strategies, we adaptively balancing between searching globally and locally. By leveraging the batch Bayesian optimization framework, we further accelerate the optimization procedure by making full use of the hardware resources. Experimental results quantitatively show that our proposed algorithm can accelerate the optimization procedure by up to 9x and 38x compared to LP-EI and REMBOpBO respectively when the batch size is 15.

eess.SY

An Efficient Asynchronous Batch Bayesian Optimization Approach for Analog Circuit Synthesis

In this paper, we propose EasyBO, an Efficient ASYnchronous Batch Bayesian Optimization approach for analog circuit synthesis. In this proposed approach, instead of waiting for the slowest simulations in the batch to finish, we accelerate the optimization procedure by asynchronously issuing the next query points whenever there is an idle worker. We introduce a new acquisition function that can better explore the design space for asynchronous batch Bayesian optimization. A new strategy is proposed to better balance the exploration and exploitation and guarantee the diversity of the query points. And a penalization scheme is proposed to further avoid redundant queries during the asynchronous batch optimization. The efficiency of optimization can thus be further improved. Compared with the state-of-the-art batch Bayesian optimization algorithm, EasyBO achieves up to 7.35 times speed-up without sacrificing the optimization results.

eess.SY

An Efficient Batch Constrained Bayesian Optimization Approach for Analog Circuit Synthesis via Multi-objective Acquisition Ensemble

Bayesian optimization is a promising methodology for analog circuit synthesis. However, the sequential nature of the Bayesian optimization framework significantly limits its ability to fully utilize real-world computational resources. In this paper, we propose an efficient parallelizable Bayesian optimization algorithm via Multi-objective ACquisition function Ensemble (MACE) to further accelerate the optimization procedure. By sampling query points from the Pareto front of the probability of improvement (PI), expected improvement (EI) and lower confidence bound (LCB), we combine the benefits of state-of-the-art acquisition functions to achieve a delicate tradeoff between exploration and exploitation for the unconstrained optimization problem. Based on this batch design, we further adjust the algorithm for the constrained optimization problem. By dividing the optimization procedure into two stages and first focusing on finding an initial feasible point, we manage to gain more information about the valid region and can better avoid sampling around the infeasible area. After achieving the first feasible point, we favor the feasible region by adopting a specially designed penalization term to the acquisition function ensemble. The experimental results quantitatively demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can reduce the overall simulation time by up to 74 times compared to differential evolution (DE) for the unconstrained optimization problem when the batch size is 15. For the constrained optimization problem, our proposed algorithm can speed up the optimization process by up to 15 times compared to the weighted expected improvement based Bayesian optimization (WEIBO) approach, when the batch size is 15.

cs.LG

Projection based Active Gaussian Process Regression for Pareto Front Modeling

Pareto Front (PF) modeling is essential in decision making problems across all domains such as economics, medicine or engineering. In Operation Research literature, this task has been addressed based on multi-objective optimization algorithms. However, without learning models for PF, these methods cannot examine whether a new provided point locates on PF or not. In this paper, we reconsider the task from Data Mining perspective. A novel projection based active Gaussian process regression (P- aGPR) method is proposed for efficient PF modeling. First, P- aGPR chooses a series of projection spaces with dimensionalities ranking from low to high. Next, in each projection space, a Gaussian process regression (GPR) model is trained to represent the constraint that PF should satisfy in that space. Moreover, in order to improve modeling efficacy and stability, an active learning framework has been developed by exploiting the uncertainty information obtained in the GPR models. Different from all existing methods, our proposed P-aGPR method can not only provide a generative PF model, but also fast examine whether a provided point locates on PF or not. The numerical results demonstrate that compared to state-of-the-art passive learning methods the proposed P-aGPR method can achieve higher modeling accuracy and stability.

cs.LG

An Efficient Multi-fidelity Bayesian Optimization Approach for Analog Circuit Synthesis

This paper presents an efficient multi-fidelity Bayesian optimization approach for analog circuit synthesis. The proposed method can significantly reduce the overall computational cost by fusing the simple but potentially inaccurate low-fidelity model and a few accurate but expensive high-fidelity data. Gaussian Process (GP) models are employed to model the low- and high-fidelity black-box functions separately. The nonlinear map between the low-fidelity model and high-fidelity model is also modelled as a Gaussian process. A fusing GP model which combines the low- and high-fidelity models can thus be built. An acquisition function based on the fusing GP model is used to balance the exploitation and exploration. The fusing GP model is evolved gradually as new data points are selected sequentially by maximizing the acquisition function. Experimental results show that our proposed method reduces up to 65.5\% of the simulation time compared with the state-of-the-art single-fidelity Bayesian optimization method, while exhibiting more stable performance and a more promising practical prospect.

eess.SY

Bayesian Optimization Approach for Analog Circuit Synthesis Using Neural Network

Bayesian optimization with Gaussian process as surrogate model has been successfully applied to analog circuit synthesis. In the traditional Gaussian process regression model, the kernel functions are defined explicitly. The computational complexity of training is O(N 3 ), and the computation complexity of prediction is O(N 2 ), where N is the number of training data. Gaussian process model can also be derived from a weight space view, where the original data are mapped to feature space, and the kernel function is defined as the inner product of nonlinear features. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian optimization approach for analog circuit synthesis using neural network. We use deep neural network to extract good feature representations, and then define Gaussian process using the extracted features. Model averaging method is applied to improve the quality of uncertainty prediction. Compared to Gaussian process model with explicitly defined kernel functions, the neural-network-based Gaussian process model can automatically learn a kernel function from data, which makes it possible to provide more accurate predictions and thus accelerate the follow-up optimization procedure. Also, the neural-network-based model has O(N) training time and constant prediction time. The efficiency of the proposed method has been verified by two real-world analog circuits.

cs.LG

MAP-Me: Managing Anchor-less Producer Mobility in Information-Centric Networks

Mobility has become a basic premise of network communications, thereby requiring a native integration into 5G networks. Despite the numerous efforts to propose and to standardize effective mobility management models for IP, the result is a complex, poorly flexible set of mechanisms. The natural support for mobility offered by ICN (Information Centric Networking), makes it a good candidate to define a radically new solution relieving limitations of traditional approaches. If consumer mobility is supported in ICN by design, in virtue of its connectionless pull-based communication model, producer mobility is still an open challenge. In this work, we propose MAP-Me, an anchor-less solution to manage micro mobility of content producer via ICN name-based data plane, with support for latency-sensitive applications. First, we analyze MAP-Me performance and provide guarantees of correctness and stability. Further, we set up a realistic simulation environment in NDNSim 2.1 for MAP-Me evaluation and comparison against existing solutions: either random waypoint and trace-driven car mobility patterns are considered under 802.11 radio access. Results are encouraging and highlight the superiority of MAP-Me in terms of user performance and of network cost metrics.

cs.NI