A. The Designer Track focuses on the EDA tool user community: designers and embedded software developers. This complements DAC’s strong research focus on algorithms and methodology. The Designer Track aims to illustrate both benefits and challenges of tool usage, and provides educational and networking benefits for both end-users and tool developers. The topics are at the interface between design and automation, an area that until now has been under-represented in EDA.
The DT is intended specifically for practitioners and is organized to streamline the process for authors. Whether you are hardware or software designer, application engineer or a consultant, the Designer Track is an ideal place to meet and share your experiences.
A. TIMELINE:
- January 7, 2013: Submission site opens
- February 6, 2013: Submission deadline
- March 18, 2013: Notification: accept as presentation & poster, accept as poster, or reject
- May 17, 2013: Submission deadline for draft of final posters and/or presentations (including speaker bios for presentations). All material will be reviewed by Session Chairs.
- May 22, 2013: Deadline for Session Chairs to communicate poster and slide presentation feedback to authors.
To spare authors the many hours of preparation associated with a regular manuscript submission, Designer Track submissions are slide presentations. Authors of accepted submissions will be invited to present a poster during a Designer Track poster session. The technical program committee will also select a subset of accepted submissions for slide presentations during Designer Track sessions. Detailed submission guidelines are available
here
.
A. The Designer Track seeks contributions that illustrate how one might solve today’s challenging design and development problems. We encourage design studies, retrospectives, applications of EDA tools, and descriptions of design flows. Joint submissions by designers/developers and EDA suppliers are welcome.
We welcome submissions about electronic and system design at all levels of abstraction and across all application domains. It is appropriate for submissions to highlight the benefits and challenges of design tool usage. Tools can be from EDA vendors or developed in-house; while flows can be built around a single tool or multiple tools.
- D1. Embedded Software and Systems
- D2. Silicon Design (Front-End)
- D3. Silicon Design (Back-End)
Please see the DT
Call for Contributions for more details on each category.
A. No. However, Designer Track material (both posters and presentation slides) will be made available in the DAC Archives after the conference.
A. The Designer Track provides a vendor-agnostic and objective forum for designers and EDA users. To this end, Designer Track submissions that are essentially marketing material will be rejected. On the other hand, joint customer/vendor submissions written from the perspective of the designer/developer are encouraged and are a valuable part of the Designer Track.
A. No. We made exceptions to this policy in past years, but it resulted in many problems, including introducing new conflicts of interest with reviewers on the Program Committee.
A. You may resubmit your slides up until the submission deadline. At that time, they are copied from the submission website for review. If your work is accepted, you will have the opportunity to update your slides before the conference. Final slide decks and/or posters should be updated with your latest results (if any) and to reflect feedback from the reviewers.
A. No. While we sympathize with your situation (many of us have been in the same situation), we have a tight schedule and are unable to accommodate late submissions. Please obtain appropriate legal, copyright, and any other needed permission well ahead of the submission deadline.
A. Designer Track posters are presented during Designer Track poster sessions. Designer Track presentations are slide presentations similar to those in the DAC research track, and are scheduled in sessions that run parallel to the rest of the DAC program. DT sessions include an embedded poster presentation after the presentations.
A. Remember that your slides must be presented in 14 minutes. Presenting meaningful content in a short time is challenging and requires careful thought and planning.
Please visit the Using Slide Templates page of the DAC website for presentation templates and additional information on how to prepare your slides. You are not required to use a DAC slide template, but this is a good way to avoid potential issues. Links to selected slide presentations from previous years can be found in the DAC Archives.
A. No. But you are encouraged to carefully follow the DAC slide guidelines using the Slide Prep (coming soon) page of the DAC site.
A. Authors of accepted presentations will be allocated 15 minutes in a Designer Track session; 14 minutes for the presentation and 1 minute for Q/A and transition to the next speaker. Similar to the DAC Research Track, 30 minutes are reserved at the end of each session for a dedicated poster session. This provides an opportunity for extended discussion with interested members of the audience. Designer Track sessions will be 90-120 minutes in length (four 15-minute presentations + 30 minutes for a poster session or six 15-minute presentations + 30 minutes for a poster session).
A. Each author is allocated a 36” tall x 36” wide area for a poster. Designer Track poster sessions will run for one hour, and will include 20-30 posters. Poster authors are welcome to distribute additional material to interested attendees. Such material can include extended abstracts and whitepapers. Visit Poster Prep (coming soon) for helpful templates.
A. The Designer Track program committee consists of industry experts that collectively represent years of tool and methodology experience.
A good DT presentation addresses innovative tool use coupled with high-quality results. The considerations used by the program committee in acceptance decisions include:
- Significance of results supported by clear, measurable criteria, including, but not limited to: improved quality of silicon, decreased complexity, and reduced time-to-market
- Ability to overcome design challenges such as scalability, integrating IP, and bridging front-end/back-end gaps
- Validation of the proposed techniques using real designs, case studies, or established benchmarks
- Level of innovation in tool use, e.g., utilizing one tool to obtain results that aid another tool, writing scripts to combine tools, user-facing enhancements, intelligent data management. A submission should not mirror the help section in the tool's user manual, but instead address a creative way of using the tool
- Discussion of the conceptual limitations of tools and suggestions for future tool improvement. Solid technical contributions should address both the strengths and the weaknesses of the approach
- Quality of material including writing, illustrations, and organization
- Product marketing material is inappropriate for the Designer Track
A. Yes! A Best Presentation award will be selected from the Designer Track. The award will be based on the quality of the slides and the presentation given at DAC. Best Presentation candidates will be identified before the conference, and the final selection will be made at the conference by an award committee. The Best Presentation Award will be announced in the DAC general session just before the Thursday Keynote.
A. Yes. DAC conference registration is required to participate in the Designer Track. This registration also provides access to the exhibition floor, keynotes, and other areas of the DAC conference. Designer Track authors are eligible for the same discounted registration offered to speakers in the DAC research tracks.
A. Please address any unanswered questions to Robert Jones, 50th DAC Designer Track Chair.