Lookup table power macro-models for behavioral library components

In this work we study the problem of estimating the power dissipation of the atomic components (macros) used to implement basic operations in behavioral synthesis. We first precisely define the key requisites for behavioral power macro-models and we briefly evaluate the suitability of several approaches proposed in the past. We then focus on a specific macro-modeling methodology that appears to be best suited for usage in a behavioral synthesis tool. We analyze its limitations and we propose several original improvements. Finally, we evaluate the impact of the proposed improvements on macro-model accuracy and flexibility.