Detailed Design Phase

This Overview page for the Detailed Design Phase contains the following sections:

• Detailed Design Process
• Entrance Criteria
• Exit Criteria
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Detailed Design Site Map

Detailed Design Process

For complex electronics, the Detailed Design phase primarily consists of design synthesis. This process takes the architectural design (HDL code) and translates it into a gate-level design (netlist), which can then be mapped to the logic blocks in a complex electronic device. This step also optimizes the design to make the most efficient use of the target device. It is during synthesis that timing and area constraints can be specified by the user.

The diagram below shows the detailed design process for complex electronics. The Develop Detailed Design page describes the engineering process to create the design. The Assurance Process page describes the activities to assess and verify the design.

Entrance Criteria:

The following criteria should be met prior to beginning the design synthesis process.

• The complex electronics requirements should be complete and baselined. At this phase, uncertainties should be the exception, rather than the rule.
• Synthesis tools have been selected. The tools were evaluated to ensure that they will work with the HDL or other design input and that they will produce output for the target device.
• The preliminary (architectural) design is complete and simulations have been performed to verify the design.

Exit Criteria:

At the end of the detailed design phase, the following criteria should be met:

• The design is approved and ready for the implementation phase.
• Worst case timing analysis has been performed.
• Simulations that include timing have been performed.

Roles and Responsibilities

The table below describes typical activities during the Detailed Design Phase for both engineers and assurance personnel.

Detailed Design Site Map

The table below describes the information contained on the other pages in the Detailed Design section.