A New Decision Diagram and Applications to Synthesis and Verification

Dhiraj K. Pradhan, Professor at Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Abstract: The most cited paper in the history of computer science is the 1985 paper on decision diagrams called OBDD. These earlier diagrams are useful for analysis and synthesis of single output circuits. In 2003 Jabir and Pradhan proposed a decison diagram based on Galois Switching Theory proposed in 1978 by Pradhan. This talk will review this recent development and discuss applications to multiple output logic circuit design and verification.

About the speaker: Professor Pradhan currently holds a Chair in Computer Science at the University of Bristol (U.K.). Recently, he had been Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Oregon State University, Corvallis. Previous to this, Dr. Pradhan had held the COE Endowed Chair Professorship in Computer Science at Texas A & M University, College Station, also serving as founder of the Laboratory of Computer Systems there.

Prior to this, Professor Pradhan held a Professorship at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he also served as Coordinator of Computer Engineering. Dr. Pradhan has also worked at the University of California, Berkeley, Oakland University (Michigan), and the University of Regina, in Saskatchewan, Canada, and as Visiting Professor at Stanford University (Calif.).

In past, Prof. Pradhan has worked as a Staff Engineer at IBM, more recently serving as the founding CEO of Reliable Computer Technology, Inc. He is also the inventor of two patents, one of which was licensed to Mentor Graphics and Motorola. The recently-announced verification tool, Formal Pro, by Mentor Graphics is based on his patent.

Professor Pradhan has contributed to Very Large Scale Integrated computer-aided design and test, as well as to fault-tolerant computing, computer architecture and parallel processing research, with major publications in journals and conferences, spanning more than 30 years. During this long career, he has been well-funded by various agencies in Canada, USA and UK.

Dr. Pradhan has also served as co-author and editor of various books, including Fault-Tolerant Computing: Theory and Techniques, Vols. I & II (Prentice-Hall, 1986), Fault-Tolerant Computer Systems Design (Prentice-Hall, 1996, second print 2003), and IC Manufacturability: The Art of Process and Design Integration (IEEE Press, 2000).

Professor Pradhan continues to serve as an Editor in prestigious journals, including IEEE Transactions. Further, Pradhan has worked as an editor for several journals, including IEEE Transactions and JETTA.Also, he has served as General Chair and Program Chair for various major conferences. The recipient of Best Paper Awards honors including the 1996 IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design Best Paper Award, with W. Kunz, on "Recursive Learning: A New Implication Technique for Efficient Solutions to CAD Problems Test, Verification and Optimization". Prof. Pradhan is also included among 230 computer scientists worldwide whose work has been highly cited in the list appearing in www.ISIHighlyCited.com .

A Fellow of both ACM, IEEE and Japan Society of Promotion of Science, Professor Pradhan is also the recipient of a Humboldt Prize, Germany. In 1997, Dr. Pradhan was also awarded the Fulbright-Flad Chair in Computer Science.


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