Lorecast: Layout-Aware Performance and Power Forecasting from Natural Language
In chip design planning, obtaining reliable performance and power forecasts for various design options is of critical importance. Traditionally, this involves using system-level models, which often lack accuracy, or trial synthesis, which is both labor-intensive and time-consuming. We introduce a new methodology, called Lorecast, which accepts English prompts as input to rapidly generate layout-aware performance and power estimates. To the best of our knowledge, Lorecast is the first approach to enable performance and power forecasting directly from natural language descriptions. This approach bypasses the need for HDL code development and synthesis, making it both fast and user-friendly. Experimental results show that Lorecast achieves accuracy within a few percent of error compared to post-layout analysis, while significantly reducing turnaround time.
