Overview
IEC 61523-4:2023 (dual-logo with IEEE Std 1801) is the international standard for expressing power intent in low-power, energy-aware electronic system design. It defines the syntax and semantics of a formal format (Unified Power Format / UPF) used to specify power architecture, supply states, power-management elements and their relationship to the functional design. The 2023 edition (Edition 2.0) incorporates Corrigendum 1 (2024-02) and is intended for specification, validation, implementation, verification, modeling and analysis of power-managed systems.
Key Topics
The standard covers practical, machine-readable constructs and commands to capture power intent across design and verification flows:
- Power intent language (UPF): language basics (UPF is Tcl-based), lexical and boolean conventions, object declaration and attributes.
- Power architecture & distribution: defining power domains, supply sets, supply nets and how power is distributed across a design.
- Power states and transitions: supply states, power states, state groups and state-transition definitions for dynamic power management.
- Power-management cells and constructs: definitions and mapping for power switches, isolation cells, level shifters, retention cells, always-on elements and repeaters.
- Power modeling & simulation hooks: applying power models, simstates, simulation behavior controls, and interactions between power intent and behavioral models.
- Design integration & mapping: linking UPF power intent to design intent held in hardware description languages and cell libraries; commands for mapping, attribute setting and verification.
- Command and tool interoperability: a comprehensive command set (create_power_domain, set_isolation, define_power_switch_cell, apply_power_model, load_upf, etc.) to enable consistent tool flows for synthesis, verification and analysis.
Applications
IEC 61523-4:2023 is used by organizations and engineers involved in:
- Low-power SoC and ASIC design: capturing and enforcing power intent early in the design cycle.
- Power-aware verification teams: functional verification, formal verification and simulation that must account for power states.
- EDA tool developers: implementing UPF-compliant parsers, checkers, power modelers and synthesis/RTL tools.
- IP integrators and library providers: specifying power-management cells and library-level attributes to ensure correct integration.
- System architects: specifying energy-aware system behavior, power sequencing and domain interactions.
Related Standards
- IEEE Std 1801 (Unified Power Format) - dual-logo companion referenced by IEC 61523-4.
- Interfaces with common HDLs and cell library formats to connect power intent to functional design representations.
Keywords: IEC 61523-4, UPF, Unified Power Format, IEEE 1801, low-power design, energy-aware systems, power intent, power-aware verification, power-management cells.