Final Year Project

Project Title

Low Power Area Efficient Switching Fabric Design for High Radix Systems

Description

With the rise in the popularity of AI, cryptocurrency, and big data, has increased the demand for large data centers, resulting in a dramatic increase in global power consumption. Most of this power consumed is during transmission. The hardware required for this transmission consists of a switching fabric comprising an array of switches lacking adaptability and smartness leading to inefficient power usage. We introduce adaptive analog circuits to the switching fabric, enabling it to detect when to operate at high or low speeds depending on the workload. This adaptability leads to significant power savings as the system only draws current when necessary. Using the SkyWater 130nm CMOS technology stack and state-of-the-art Cadence analog design tools, this project introduced us to practical challenges in low-power circuit design – extending beyond academic concepts.