IEEE votes on updated low-power design standard

First developed by Accellera, UPF is currently supported by multiple vendors and is in use worldwide; however, this is the first time that it has undergone an IEEE standardisation effort, according to Stephen Bailey, Chair of the P1801 Working Group, which is dedicated to the development of the standard.

“This version enhances portability by addressing bugs and ambiguities in the UPF 1.0 specification and also delivers new functionality requested by the community of low-power designers,” said Bailey.

The enhancements are said to include support for bias supplies (N-well, P-well, Deep-N-Well and Deep-P-Well); greater flexibility and capabilities in specification of power states; and enhanced semantic capabilities for merged power domains.

"The standard also includes a high level of backward compatibility," said Gary Delp, Working Group Vice-Chair. "Use of UPF has really exploded over the last six months, and we want to make sure that companies' ongoing investments in UPF will be preserved."

The sponsor ballot for IEEE P1801 was opened on 28 October and is expected to close on 27 November.

Sponsor ballot proceedings begin when the technical sponsor of the standard decides that the draft of the proposed standard is stable.

The sponsor forms a ballot group consisting of entities with a material interest in the content of the draft.

The goal of the sponsor ballot process is to gain the required approval level among those balloting the standard.

Once the document reaches the required level of consensus, it can be submitted to the IEEE-SA Standards Board for final approval as an IEEE standard.