With CMOS process technology scaling, the mask cost for fabricating nano-scale transistors, contacts, and interconnects has become prohibitively expensive, especially, for low volume designs. Moreover, higher transistor density has resulted in higher design complexity and large-sized die, which has led to an increase in the design cycle time and degradation in the process yield. These challenges are forcing low-volume application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) toward highly suboptimal field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In this article, we propose a new approach for designing and fabricating high-mix, low-volume heterogeneously integrated ASICs, referred to as Microscale Modular Assembled ASIC (M2A2), consisting of: 1) pick-and-place assembly of prefabricated blocks (PFBs) which utilizes the nano-precision placement capabilities developed in jet-and-flash imprint lithography (J-FIL) and 2) EDA design methodology utilizing unsupervised learning and graph-matching techniques. The EDA methodology leverages existing CAD tool infrastructure for easy adoption into the current EDA ecosystem. The proposed fabrication technology makes use of pick-and-place assembly technique to allow nano-precise assembly of PFBs. The PFBs can be fabricated in advanced process nodes and then knitted together on a wafer substrate. Custom-designed low-cost back-end metal layers can then be created/placed on top of the PFB knitted layer to realize a variety of high-mix, low-volume ASIC designs. M2A2 would allow more flexibility in front-end design by optimal PFB selection and knitting compared to the earlier proposed approaches such as structured ASICs (sASICs). In this article, the performance of M2A2-based designs are compared with different design technologies, such as baseline ASICs, FPGAs, and sASICs at 16 nm, 40 nm, and 130 nm CMOS process nodes. The post-PNR simulation results achieved over 15 IWLS benchmarks show that the proposed M2A2 designs achieve 27.11x -34.89x reduced power-delay-product (PDP) compared to FPGAs, and incur 1.69x -2.36x larger area compared to the baseline ASICs. The M2A2 designs achieve 15%-68.5% smaller area and 8.5%-52% higher performance compared to the sASIC methodologies. Moreover, the key fabrication steps in the proposed M2A2 technology are presented. The experimental fab results along with the proposed EDA flow simulations show promising results for the proposed M2A2 technology. Design tradeoffs and process challenges for large scale deployment of the M2A2 technology are discussed along with their mitigation strategies.

A construction workspace is a dynamic environment that allows little time to obtain and update the graphical and image modeling information that is required in construction equipment operations. Comprehensive 3D models of the workspace require computationally intensive and expensive imaging processing, and usually take much longer than the ongoing construction operations permit. Rapid 3D positioning and modeling in construction can be used to plan, visualize and communicate operations before execution. They can also help to optimize equipment operations, significantly improve safety and enhance a remote operator's spatial perception of the workspace. This paper presents a rapid method, by combining human-assisted graphical workspace modeling with pre-stored CAD models and simple sensors (such as single-axis laser range-finders and remote video cameras), which can significantly reduce the modeling time while potentially increasing the modeling accuracy.

This paper presents the gross motion characteristics of articulated wheeled vehicles with slip-free motion capability on several kinds of smooth uneven surfaces. These vehicles possess variable length axles to eliminate kinematic slipping at the wheel-surface contacts. A numerical procedure to solve for the combined holonomic-nonholonomic set of equations that result from considering the exact kinematics of rolling on uneven surfaces is presented. The article provides insight into the relationship between variations in the axle lengths and kinematic parameters such as path curvature and vehicle-surface contact geometry.

The motion of a wheeled mobile robot on uneven terrain leads to asymmetry in the position of the wheel-terrain contact locations. This asymmetry has important kinematic and dynamic implications for several of the wheeled mobile robots studied in literature. It leads to kinematic slipping at the wheel-ground contacts-this slip is required for the vehicle to possess functional mobility. This slip leads to unpredictable load distribution in the system and poor dead-reckoning. This article presents a motion planning algorithm for a class of terrain adaptive mobile robots (TAMR) that possess slip-free motion capability on uneven terrain. The motion planning algorithm can be divided into two phases. Phase I is a global (coarse) search for a potentially feasible path on the uneven terrain. Phase II involves refining this path using a thorough mechanics (kinematic/force analysis) approach to confirm its feasibility. It should be noted that the kinematic analysis on uneven terrain involves solution of a mixed holonomic-nonholonomic set of equations with characteristics that are distinct from that of mobile robots on even ground. This article only addresses "smooth" uneven terrain whose curvature characteristics are such that a wheel never possesses multiple contacts with the terrain.