On optimal board-level routing for FPGA-based logic emulation

In this paper, we consider a board-level routing problem which is applicable to field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA)-based logic emulation systems such as the Realizer System [3] and the Enterprise Emulation System [5] manufactured by Quickturn Design Systems. For the case where all nets are two-terminal nets, we present an O(n²)-time optimal algorithm where n is the number of nets. Our algorithm guarantees 100% routing completion if the number of interchip signal pins on each FPGA chip in the logic emulation system is less than or equal to the number of I/O pins on the chip. Our algorithm is based on iterative computation of Euler circuits in graphs. We also prove that the routing problem with multiterminal nets is NP-complete. And we suggest one way to handle multiterminal nets using some additional resources.