Automatic generation of hardware/software interfaces

Abstract

Enabling new applications for mobile devices often requires the use of specialized hardware to reduce power consumption. Because of time-to-market pressure, current design methodologies for embedded applications require an early partitioning of the design, allowing the hardware and software to be developed simultaneously, each adhering to a rigid interface contract. This approach is problematic for two reasons: (1) a detailed hardware-software interface is difficult to specify until one is deep into the design process, and (2) it prevents the later migration of functionality across the interface motivated by efficiency concerns or the addition of features. We address this problem using the Bluespec Codesign Language (BCL) which permits the designer to specify the hardware-software partition in the source code, allowing the compiler to synthesize efficient software and hardware along with transactors for communication between the partitions. The movement of functionality across the hardware-software boundary is accomplished by simply specifying a new partitioning, and since the compiler automatically generates the desired interface specifications, it eliminates yet another errorprone design task. In this paper we present BCL, an extension of a commercially available hardware design language (Bluespec SystemVerilog), a new software compiling scheme, and preliminary results generated using our compiler for various hardware-software decompositions of an Ogg Vorbis audio decoder, and a ray-tracing application.

Systematic Review of Methodologies for the Development of Embedded Systems

“…1 show that most articles focused on the whole system, while eight articles (7,15,16,50,51,56,58,59) focused on solving specific requests of special cases of these systems. Two articles (42,54) focused on the development of embedded software, and 15 articles (24,25,26,30,36,37,38,43,44,48,53,57,60,61,62) prescribed steps in the development process of embedded hardware.…”

Generating infrastructure for FPGA-accelerated applications

“…For applications with regular data-flow, a C-to-gates solution such as [3,4] can generate an implementation from the original application SW. Cases where the data-flow is less regular or where the designer wants greater control over the micro-architecture, re-implementation in some HDL is required [5]. In contrast with C-to-gates solutions, the use of languages designed specifically for HW/SW codesign [6,7] can fully automate the generation of interfaces and implementations, often with superior results. The Chinook [8] compiler is another tool interface generation.…”

“…From this declaration, our interface compiler can easily infer the FIFO channels connecting HW and SW, the conversion routines for all data-types being transmitted, and the correct abstraction to expose to the SW application code. In [7], the Bluespec Codesign Language (BCL) was used to define the entire data-flow graph, including the functionality at each node. This can be a convenient option when building an applicaiton from whole-cloth, but it can also be burdensome since it requires implementing the entire algorithm in BCL.…”

“…Because data-flow graphs are hierarchically composable, any node can itself describe a subgraph specified entirely in BCL whose partitioning can be further explored. In further contrast with [7] which gave no details on the communication infrastructure, this paper provides a generic procedure for automatically synthesizing the HW/SW interfaces on any system for which "platform support" has been implemented. Figure 2.b shows the data-flow graph in a state where the nodes have been grouped to form the HW and SW applica-tion components.…”

An Intelligent and Object-oriented Blueprint for a Mobile Learning Institute Information System

“…A new generation functional programming language known as the Bluespec Codesign Language is used in developing mobile and embedded applications by describing algorithms 'as a set of rules' rather than instructions [7]. This language allows the designer to specify the hardware-software interface for the mobile device in the source code and assign tasks to either hardware or software depending on whichever is more suitable for performance or battery use.…”