Digital Systems
Digital Systems Research Presentation Mohammad
Sharifkhani ©
1
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
2
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
 What does a professional research like a PhD mean?
 Brought to you by Matt Might's page at http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Keep Pushing!
Outline
Introduction
 Research Methodology and Skills

 Introductory Concepts
 Problem Definition
 Literature Survey (have been discussed earlier)
 Research Conduct (Simulation, Experiment)
 Data Management
 Reporting
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
16
Introduction

In most research works you have:
 A New:
○ Method, Model, Tool, Device, Architecture, Algorithm,
Circuit, etc.
 which is superior to the previous works in terms of
○ Criteria

You need to prove it through:
 Analysis
 Simulation
 Experiment

Most of the times, you need two consistent
evidences
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
17
Outline
Introduction
 Research Methodology and Skills

 Introductory Concepts
 Problem Definition
 Literature Survey (have been discussed earlier)
 Research Conduct (Simulation, Experiment)
 Data Management
 Reporting
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
18
Research Methodology and Skills: Introduction
Market Need
Request For Proposal
(RFP)
Proposal
Final Product
Design & Development
Research Topics
Research Methodology: What is Research?
 Discovery of new things that have been independently verified
by other professionals.
 Research comprises





Defining and redefining problems,
Formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions;
Collecting, organizing and evaluating data;
Making deductions and reaching conclusions; and
At last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether
they fit the formulating hypothesis.
 Reporting the results.
Research Methodology: What is Research?
Research Methodology: What is Research?
Prior
knowledge
An idea
The
Outcome is Recognised
Submit
as a Major Contribution
Report,
Thesis,
to the Field
Journal
Discovery
Independent verification:
Independent
verification:
literature, experiment,
literature,
numerical
model,
numericalmodel,
model,etc
analytical
analytical model, etc
or
Conference
Paper
Assessors
Research Methodology: What is Research?
 Research topic should address one or few major
unanswered questions in the field or may address the
existing challenge in the field.
 If the answer is clear, then the selected topic is not a
research topic!
Research Methodology: What is Research?
 The purpose of the research should be clearly defined.
 The research procedure used should be described in
sufficient detail to permit another researcher to repeat
the research for further advancement, keeping the
continuity of what has already been attained.
 The procedural design of the research should be
carefully planned to yield results that are as objective as
possible.
Research Methodology: What is Research?
 Research Prerequisites:
 Enough background on the field
 Literature survey
 Experiment/Simulations
 Research outputs/products:




Papers
Books
Presentations
Real Stuff!
Research Methodology: Types of Research?
 Fundamental or Practical
 Analytical or Qualitative
 Conceptual or Practical
 Industrial
Good Researcher

Has four Ps: PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE, PERSEVERANCE, PERSPIRATION

Takes the critics and comments very serious

Attend various talks and defense sessions to get diversity

Try to give feedback and criticize other works

Does not lose his motivation when see a small failure (like a
paper rejection or a bad criticism)
Good Researcher

Hamming: Take two people with the same potential and
capability, if one of them works 10% more, he would produce
twice as much!
 The more you know, the more you learn
 The more you learn, the more you can
 The more you can, the more opportunities you get
Good Researcher

Comparison of your results with previous work always help

Take note from all papers you have read

Take a note of ideas that can be pursued

Take a note of potential solutions to the problem of interest

Write down your potential solution. On paper, gaps and flaws are easily detected

Start writing your expected paper in parallel to your research to have a big
picture of where you are going

Review your notes quite often
Perspiration vs. Inspiration (Intelligence)

Perspiration ONLY does not work!

Inspiration/intelligence ONLY does not work!

Perspiration and intelligence together makes magic!
 Pasteur: "Luck favors the prepared mind."
 Newton: "If others would think as hard as I did, then they would get
similar results."
 Edison: "Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration."

When you concentrate on a topic and sleep on a problem your inspiration
would help you a lot.
Perspiration vs. Inspiration (Intelligence)

Your research topic should be with you everywhere, i.e., in bus,
taxi, when watching a movie, walking, eating, …

Sometimes when it is running on the background, potential
solutions come to foreground!
Effective Research: Time Management

Time management is the key.

You have limited number of weeks till your defense count them

Research takes much more time than you normally expect

Tempting activities that are irrelevant to your research (check mail,
news, …) should be delayed or be done in a pre-planned and limited
period of time.

Give limited time to yourself to surf the web for leisure.
Break your final goal into small sub-goals feasible to be
done in a week or month to enhance your efficiency
The Research Community

All use the same scientific method.

All follow the same ethical principles.

All use the same language and terms.

All provide information to the world-wide community
reported in a full and open manner.

All acknowledge the previous work of others.
Research Failure

What happens if I do not reach my targeted goals in the research?
 This is intrinsic to the nature of the research
 A comprehensive justification of a failure in a research trend is a valuable
research itself (can also be published)
 This would prevent others to take the same direction
 It should be grounded on rational and well-established analysis and
verifications
Research Failure

Failure is part of the game

You should be careful not to define a high-risk topic for your twoyear master’s topic

You should always have an alternative or fall-back position

It is important to recognize the reasons behind this failure to first
resolve it and second do not repeat it in future
Research Failure: Similar Work

Paper search continuously to prevent missing a similar work

After a while you may find a similar work already published
 Don’t worry, seat back and relax!
 In most cases that work is not 100% the same so find the differences
 Read it once more with the objective of finding the disparities
 Give it to another expert like your supervisor to comment
 You can even contact the author
 Even if it is 100% the same you can take different approach to continue it
Research Failure:
Active vs. Passive Learning
Outline
Introduction
 Research Methodology and Skills

 Introductory Concepts
 Problem Definition
 Literature Survey (have been discussed earlier)
 Research Conduct (Simulation, Experiment)
 Data Management
 Reporting
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
38
Problem Definition



Problem definition is a key step at the beginning
Proper topic definition is part of the solution!
Good Definition requires:
 Sufficient background on the field
 Be aware of the current status of the filed (literature survey)
 Recognition of the existing challenges
 Insight about the next step
Outline
Introduction
 Research Methodology and Skills

 Introductory Concepts
 Problem Definition
 Literature Survey (have been discussed earlier)
 Research Conduct (Analysis, Simulation, Experiment)
 Data Management
 Reporting
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
40
Research Conduct

In most research works you have:
 A New Method, Model, Tool, Device, Architecture, Algorithm,
Circuit, …, which is superior to the previous works

You need to prove it through:
 Analysis
 Simulation
 Experiment

Most of the times, you need two consistent evidences
41
Research Conduct




You need enough simulations and analysis to first well define
the topic and then conduct the simulation
Sometime your great idea is not appreciated by the
reviewers or your supervisor because there is a gap between
the idea and the results
This gap includes intermediate simulations results and/or
justifications showing the correctness and accuracy of your
final results
You should justify your approach not just the final result
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Analysis
Be clear about your analytical procedure
 Define what is your ultimate objective

 Is it a parameter?
 Is it a design guideline?
 Is it a criteria? A>B

A closed-form equation is always
favorable
 People like math!
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
43
Analysis

Be clear about your presumptions
 What are the factors that you are going to
ignore?
 What are the dominant factors?
 Why would you think you can make such
assumptions?
○ Simulations
○ Reports
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
44
Analysis

Be clear about the variable names,
indexes, etc.
 Try to make use of common variable names
in the literature
 Avoid using unnecessary variables when
you do not refer to it
 Be consistent throughout your entire
research work
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
45
Analysis

Come up with real life examples in your
analysis
 Helps the reader to grasp what you mean

Flow of analysis might be useful
 Use appendix if necessary
 Not every equation is useful all the time
○ Too sophisticated equations can not be used
in hand calculations and numerical analysis
can provide more accurate results

Use analysis to find the trends
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
46
Simulation

Be clear about your objective for the
simulation
 It influences how fast, accurate you would
simulate your idea

Choose the right model for your case
 Be clear about how it is described
○ How detailed, accurate it is
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
47
Simulation

Simulation Tool
 Is it the right tool for the abstraction layer?
○ Time vs. Accuracy
 How does it work?
○ You need to know what you are doing!
 Is it an standard tool? (License?)
○ Should we report the tool?
 Right Device Models for the Tool is
available?
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
48
Simulation

Simulation Test Bench
 Type of test-bench/benchmarks
 Standard test-benches/test vectors

Simulation Test Setting
 Temperature, corner cases, etc.

Well-know simulation methods
 Time domain, Frequency domain, Monte
carlo, etc.
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
49
Simulation

Sim. Result Analysis
 Realtime analysis
 Post sim (off-line) analysis
 Calibrate your computational analysis
○ How the criteria, FOM, etc. is calculated in
your post sim analysis
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
50
Experiment
Make up your mind on what you are
going to measure
 Choose your measurement setup before
hand

 Ports, Voltage Levels, Equipment,
Connections, …
 Example: current measurement for power
analysis, etc.
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
51
Experiment
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
52
Experiment

Stimulating equipments
 Data generator, Vector signal generator, pulse
generator, etc.

Observation equipments
 Logic analyzer, Vector signal analyzer, oscilloscope,
meters,…

Is there standard equipment for a particular
testbench/standard?
 Refer to other works

Repeatability
 Yield, etc.

Record your results, etc.
 Analyze and justify your results
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
53
Research Conduct

Keep in mind the final goal of the research
 Low-Power
 High-Throughput
 Low-Area
 Low-Latency
 A mix of these…

Make sure to survey related papers and think of the solution
towards this goal.
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Research Conduct: Gantt Chart


You need to have a Gantt chart
A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart, developed by Henry
Gantt in the 1910s, that illustrates:
 A project schedule and timeline
 The start and finish dates of the terminal elements
 Work breakdown structure of the project
 All intermediate stages and tasks
 The dependency between tasks
 The people assigned to each task
 The required HW/SW needed for each task
Normally done by Microsoft Project
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Research Conduct: Gantt Chart Sample
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Outline
Introduction
 Research Methodology and Skills

 Introductory Concepts
 Problem Definition
 Literature Survey (have been discussed earlier)
 Research Conduct (Simulation, Experiment)
 Data Management
 Reporting
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
57
Outline
Introduction
 Research Methodology and Skills

 Introductory Concepts
 Problem Definition
 Literature Survey (have been discussed earlier)
 Research Conduct (Simulation, Experiment)
 Data Management
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
58
Data Management
The output of each research include some of the files
and technical reports.
 The files created in the intermediate stages of the
research process should be efficiently archived and
managed.
 Efficient data management would enhance the research
efficiently significantly.
 Failure to do so may result in time/money wastes

 May even result in failure in the whole research.
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Data Management


Create a logical folder structure for your files
The folder name should be self-descriptive representing
 the content
 the date it created



Make sure to archive the files in related folders
If a project have several files say the code, its testbench and
the output file, archive them in one folder
Have a readme file in each folder describing the folder files
 If a test has passed mention it in the readme file for future reference

Archiving will help the mutual comparison of files over time
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Digital Systems Research Presentation
Digital Systems Research Presentation
Mohammad Sharifkhani ©
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