ESL

This paper describes Medea, a NoC-based framework that uses a hybrid shared-memory/message-passing approach. It has been modeled in a fast, cycle-accurate SystemC implementation enabling rapid system exploration while varying several parameters such as the number and type of cores, cache size and policy, and specific NoC features. Also, each SystemC block has its RTL counterpart [...]

Simulation speed is a key issue for the virtual prototyping (VP) of multiprocessor system-on-chips (MPSoCs). The SystemC transaction level modeling (TLM) 2.0 scheme accelerates simulation by using interface method calls (IMC) to implement communication between hardware components. Acceleration can also be achieved using parallel simulation. Multicore workstations are moving into the computing mainstream, and symmetric [...]

The analysis of important power and temperature metrics for chip design is becoming increasingly inefficient when attempted at the register-transfer level. The article proposes the fundamentals of a system-level modeling strategy that will shrink design times, provide more opportunities for architectural exploration, and deliver significant power savings.

One year after the publication of a draft, the analog and mixed-signal (AMS) extensions to SystemC AMS will be issued as a standard at the Design Automation and Test in Europe conference in Dresden in March 2010. At this point, SystemC/SystemC AMS will become the first ESL technology to cover continuous time modeling as well [...]

Europe’s premier EDA conference moves to Silicon Saxony

The verification, test and debug of SystemC models can be undertaken at an early stage in the design process. To support these techniques, the SystemC Verification Library uses a concept called data introspection. It lets a library routine extract information from SystemC compound types, or a user-specified composite that is derived from a SystemC type. […]

For two decades, the benefits of ESL and abstractions have been supposedly confined to engineers working on digital designs and to system architects. Analog and mixed-signal (AMS) design has largely remained a ‘circuit level’ activity. This article shows that tools exist that now also allow AMS engineers to exploit abstraction, and that can make all […]

The article describes a methodology that bridges the gap between SystemC transaction-level models (TLMs) that are used for architectural exploration and SystemC cycle-accurate models of hardware that typically follow much later in a design flow, after many sensitive decisions have been made. The behavior of the cycle-accurate models can be verified in the complete system […]

The article describes how a methodology based around scalable transaction level modeling (TLM) techniques can be used to enable software design to begin far earlier in a design fl ow and thus allow companies to bring designs to market faster, particularly in time-sensitive sectors. It is based on the creation of high-level hardware models that […]

The paper describes several innovative modifications to standard design flows that enable new device technologies to be rapidly assessed at the system level. Cell libraries from these rapid flows are employed by a design flow description language (PSYCHIC) for the exploration of highly speculative ‘what if’ scenarios. These rapid design flows are used to explore […]