A methodology and tool for automated transformational high-level design space exploration

Objective of the methodology presented in this paper is to perform design space exploration on a high level of abstraction by applying high-level transformations. The paper concentrates on algorithmic approaches on controlling the iterative process of transformation selection. A novel modular algorithm for transformation control is presented and its effectiveness is experimentally validated. In combination with a large set of transformation algorithms and mechanisms for high-level estimation of transformation quality, there results a methodology for automated high-level design space exploration. All the concepts are summarized in a software tool called ExTra (Design Space Exploration Using Transformations). Finally, the results of the application of ExTra to the JPEG encoding algorithm are presented.