SCANNING THE ISSUE Design Automation of Electronic Systems: Past Accomplishments and Challenges Ahead

Design automation of electronic systems [electronic design automation (EDA)] is the engineering science that derives software and hardware tools for the design of integrated circuits and systems based on abstraction, design methodologies, and software implementations of sophisticated algorithms for verification and synthesis. What makes EDA unique is the continuous interplay between theory and applications. Computer science, mathematics, and physics offer the foundations upon which EDA rests. However, EDA specialists must also be able to leverage their application domain knowledge to solve abstract problems that are well known to be intractable in general. Indeed, EDA is a cornucopia of interesting problems, some solved and some that are just appearing on the scene, where prominent results come from the tight interaction of mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists, and engineers. The relevance of EDA is also proven by the existence of a vibrant community of EDA companies and universities active in this field. We believe that the future has much to offer to young researchers and engineers. The goal of this special issue is twofold: first, to provide an overview of and a perspective on the evolution of EDA and then, to offer a perspective on some of the principal avenues of future development. EDA started as a field in the 1960s when researchers of some leading academic and industrial labs conceived the first computer-aided design (CAD) tools for supporting engineers in the analysis and layout of circuits and boards whose complexity was growing dramatically. The early This special issueprovides an overview of and a perspective on the evolution of EDA, and offers a perspective on some of the principal avenues of future development.