Hardware-software co-design of embedded systems [and prolog]

This paper surveys the design of embedded computer systems, which use software running on programmable computers to implement system functions. Creating an embedded computer system which meets its performance, cost, and design time goals is a hardware-software co-design problem-the design of the hardware and software components influence each other. This paper emphasizes a historical approach to show the relationships between well-understood design problems and the as-yet unsolved problems in co-design. We describe the relationship between hardware and software architecture in the early stages of embedded system design. We describe analysis techniques for hardware and software relevant to the architectural choices required for hardware-software co-design. We also describe design and synthesis techniques for co-design and related problems     

软硬件协同设计语言System C在SoC设计中的应用

软硬件协同设计是未来VLSI设计的发展趋势.作为新的系统级VLSI设计标准,System C是一种通过类对象扩展的基于C/C++建模平台,支持系统级软硬件协同设计、仿真和验证.文章讨论了SystemC复杂芯片设计中的设计流程、设计优势,并给出具体设计实例.     

基于SoC的DRM接收机ASIC设计

DRM是新一代的数字广播体制。针对DRM接收机的ASIC设计,提出了一种采用软硬件协同设计的SoC结构,给出了片上处理单元说明,SoC设计中的软硬件划分、协同设计和验证方法。最后给出了DRM接收机的性能。     

Hardware/software co-design

Most electronic systems, whether self contained or embedded, have a predominant digital component consisting of a hardware platform which executes software application programs. Hardware/software co-design means meeting system level objectives by exploiting the synergism of hardware and software through their concurrent design. Co-design problems have different flavors according to the application domain, implementation technology and design methodology. Digital hardware design has increasingly more similarities to software design. Hardware circuits are often described using modeling or programming languages, and they are validated and implemented by executing software programs, which are sometimes conceived for the specific hardware design. Current integrated circuits can incorporate one (or more) processor core(s) and memory array(s) on a single substrate. These “systems on silicon” exhibit a sizable amount of embedded software, which provides flexibility for product evolution and differentiation purposes. Thus the design of these systems requires designers to be knowledgeable in both hardware and software domains to make good design tradeoffs. The paper introduces various aspects of co-design. We highlight the commonalities and point out the differences in various co-design problems in some application areas. Co-design issues and their relationship to classical system implementation tasks are discussed to help develop a perspective on modern digital system design that relies on computer aided design (CAD) tools and methods     

Design of telecommunication electronic systems using a hardware/software co-design methodology

Design of real-time electronic systems is critical since these systems include performance constraints as part of their requirements. The goal is to map all functions of such systems on to distributed hardware/software architecture in such a way that all performance constraints can be met. Hardware/software codesign approaches are an important issue. The aim of this paper is to discuss a case study of an X25 system design using a hardware/software co-design methodology. Several alternatives are discussed with respect to their performance. A prototype of the X25 system, which correctly implements the system functionality while meeting real-time requirements, has been experimentally checked.     

Reliability Properties Assessment at System Level: A Co-Design Framework

This paper introduces an enhanced hardware/software co-design framework allowing the designer to introduce hardware fault detection properties in the system under consideration. By considering reliability requirements at system level, within a hw/sw co-design flow, it is possible to evaluate overheads and benefits of different solutions. System specification, hardware and software concurrent fault detection design methodologies and hw/sw partitioning are the three key factors taken into account. The paper discusses these aspects providing a complete overview of the reliability co-design project.     

基于可配置VLIW结构DSP的RS译码算法设计

VLIW体系结构是高端DSP大多采用的体系结构,此结构有很强的指令级并行运算能力。一般的DSP应用开发,都是针对具体型号的DSP进行软件的设计和优化。为了更好地利用DSP资源、提高性能、节约成本,文中提出了一种软硬件协同设计的方法。通过Rs码的Euclid译码算法的实现,充分体现了可配置VLIW结构DSP的性能优势和开发周期短。达到面向应用的硬件和软件最优。     

System Level Design for System on a Chip

We present the systems requirements generation and executable specification capture of a single chip LAN Adapter for communicating using the IEEE 1394 Serial Bus Protocol. The requirements generation starts with high level performance simulation and then passes to an executable specification suitable for implementation using a hardware/software co-design tool. The reuse of pre-existing components is supported, as well as synthesis of the system interface, but only after much work is done to program the hardware/software co-design tool. The actual design flow described allows feedback among all design levels, e.g. from implementation up to requirements, throughout the process.     

Hardware/Software Co-Design of Complex Embedded Systems: An Approach Using Efficient Process Models, Multiple Formalism Specification and Validation via Co-Simulation

This paper presents a hardware/software co-design approachwhere different specification languages can be used in parallel, allowingeffective system co-modeling. The proposed methodology introduces a processmodel that extends the traditional spiral model so as to reflect the designneeds of modern embedded systems. The methodology is supported by an advancedtoolset that allows co-modeling and co-simulation using SDL, Statecharts andMATRIX_X, and interactive hardware/software partitioning. The effectivenessof the proposed approach is exhibited through two applicati on examples: thedesign of a car window lift mechanism, and the design of a MAC layer protocolfor wireless ATM networks.     

USB主机控制器端串行接口引擎IP的实现

通用串行总线USB是当前主流的计算机外设接口的总线标准。设计实现USB各功能模块的IP核对于SoC领域发展具有重要的现实意义。本文介绍了主机控制器端的串行接口引擎IP的设计、电路的功能仿真、综合以及验证等过程，提出并讨论了基于中科SoC开发平台的软／硬件协同设计验证的IP设计方法。结果表明该IP在功能和时序上符合USB技术规范1．1版本。达到了预定目标。     

新型智能存储SoC中NAND Flash控制器的软/硬件设计

介绍了新一代智能存储片上系统SSC,详细讨论了SSC中NAND Flash子系统的软/硬件设计;采用基于模板的划分方法,实现NAND读写控制器的软/硬件划分.SSC已生产并通过工业测试.结果表明,采用软/硬件划分的方法,NAND控制器的面积比纯硬件的实现方法减小58%,性能仅下降16%;比单纯ARM软件实现,速度平均提高20倍,同时具有软件的高灵活性.     

Using method interception for hardware/software co-development

In many embedded systems, the computational power of an instruction set processor is combined with hardware accelerators. Building such combined systems implies co-design of the software that runs on the processor and the hardware that accelerates the embedded application. During the co-design process, the application is partitioned into a software part (running on the processor) and a hardware part (running on the accelerator). In order to ease the iterative process of partitioning, we introduce a novel design methodology. In our methodology, the interface between hardware and software is transparent to the software designer, and is based on dynamic method interception. Because the interface is transparent and generated automatically, the initial all-software prototype of the system can more easily be refined and partitioned. We show that method interception is inexpensive, and we demonstrate method interception in a real-life application. Using our methodology, embedded systems can be designed fast, reducing time-to-market, while still achieving a high run-time performance.     

Hardware/Software co-design with the HMS framework

Hardware/Software co-design is an increasingly common design style for integrated circuits. It allows the majority of a system to designed quickly with standardized parts, while special purpose hardware is used for the time critical portions of the system. The framework considered in this paper performs Hardware/Multi-Software (HMS) co-design for iterative loops, given an input specification that includes the system to be built, the number of available processors, the total chip area, and the required response time. Originally, all operations are done in software. The system then substitutes hardware (adder, multiplier, bus) for software based on theneedability of each type of hardware unit. After a new hardware unit is introduced the system is rescheduled using a variation of rotation scheduling in which operations may be moved between processors. Experimental results are shown that illustrate the efficiency of the algorithms as well as the savings achieved.     

Co-synthesis and co-simulation of control-dominated embedded systems

This paper presents a methodology for hardware/software co-design with particular emphasis on the problems related to the concurrent simulation and synthesis of hardware and software parts of the overall system. The proposed approach aims at overcoming the problem of having two separate simulation environments by defining a VHDL-based modeling strategy for software execution, thus enabling the simulation of hardware and software modules within the same VHDL-based CAD framework. The proposed methodology is oriented towards the application field of control-dominated embedded systems implemented onto a single chip.     

基于SystemC的事务级建模研究

探讨了基于SystemC的事务级建模方法,并结合SoC片上总线,以DVB-C数字电视机顶盒给出建模实例.基于SystemC的SoC总线模型有效克服了SoC软硬件协同设计的时间瓶颈问题,提高了开发效率,缩短了产品的开发周期.目前该系统正处于板级调试过程中.     

基于SCA的软件无线电SoPC设计

软件通信体系架构为实现具有开放性、标准化、模块化的通用软件无线电平台提供了规范。为了实现无线通信系统的小型化,采用软硬件协同设计的方法构建了基于SCA的软件无线电SoPC系统,该系统实现了波形组件的动态配置和部署,以及硬件组件的部分重构。同时它具有效率高,体积小,功耗低,功能强的优点,具有很好的应用前景。     

基于改进的遗传算法软硬件划分方法研究

随着芯片集成度的飞速发展,集成电路的设计已经进入了片上系统（Soc,Systemonchip）的时代。传统的软硬件分开设计的方法已经不在适合Soc设计的需要,而软硬件协同设计技术很好解决了传统设计方法所不能解决的问题。软硬件划分方法是软硬件协同设计中的一个关键问题,从基于多目标的遗传算法出发,主要做了两方面的改进：一方面引入小生境技术,进一步优化了算法;另一方面是引入精英保持策略,保证了算法的收敛性。     

Hardware-Assisted Run-Time Monitoring for Secure Program Execution on Embedded Processors

Embedded system security is often compromised when "trusted" software is subverted to result in unintended behavior, such as leakage of sensitive data or execution of malicious code. Several countermeasures have been proposed in the literature to counteract these intrusions. A common underlying theme in most of them is to define security policies at the system level in an application-independent manner and check for security violations either statically or at run time. In this paper, we present a methodology that addresses this issue from a different perspective. It defines correct execution as synonymous with the way the program was intended to run and employs a dedicated hardware monitor to detect and prevent unintended program behavior. Specifically, we extract properties of an embedded program through static program analysis and use them as the bases for enforcing permissible program behavior at run time. The processor architecture is augmented with a hardware monitor that observes the program's dynamic execution trace, checks whether it falls within the allowed program behavior, and flags any deviations from expected behavior to trigger appropriate response mechanisms. We present properties that capture permissible program behavior at different levels of granularity, namely inter-procedural control flow, intra-procedural control flow, and instruction-stream integrity. We outline a systematic methodology to design application-specific hardware monitors for any given embedded program. Hardware implementations using a commercial design flow, and cycle-accurate performance simulations indicate that the proposed technique can thwart several common software and physical attacks, facilitating secure program execution with minimal overheads