An asynchronous communication mechanism using self-timed circuits

A modified 4-slot asynchronous communication mechanism (ACM) using entirely selftimed circuits to implement the algorithm is presented here. Mutual exclusion elements are used to concentrate potential metastability to a couple of discrete points so that it can be resolved entirely within the mechanism itself, while the self-timed circuits allow the interface between the reader and writer processes and the mechanism to be minimised. Initial analyses show that this solution is more robust with regard to steering logic metastability, and can potentially run faster, than the original 4-slot solution.