Domain-Specific Front-End For Virtual System Performance Exploration

Abstract

Abstract-Domain specific modelling (DSM) is used typically on various computer application domains to alleviate application programming by altering error prone text editing work to graphical modelling and code generation. One rather different domain is design space exploration of embedded computer systems which composes greatly from complex programming phases resulting abstract application and platform models needed in system simulations. Objective of this paper is to show that the advantages of DSM can be harnessed perfectly well to this engineering domain. Previously has been shown that with a little pinch of imagination the concept of DSM can be applied on virtual system modelling phases. In this paper we describe how DSM tool and domain specific language are applied to practical exploitation of virtual system model, i.e. to performance simulation and analysis of simulation results. We share also pros and cons from explored appliance of DSM for performance exploration which according our research is valid method.Index Terms-Back-annotation, embedded system, DSM, performance exploration, simulation, virtual system. I. INTRODUCTIONInteractive mobile devices are nowadays everywhere and they are capable for running impressive multimedia applications. Trend is that application complexity increase continues like it has done many years. Expectations towards new gadgets, on which the applications of future are used, are therefore high. Because of the increasing application complexity it is easy to figure out that complexity of embedded system computing architecture increases also rapidly. Application complexity and computing architecture complexity are already difficult issues to cope for designers and the need for new ideas and design methods is continuously underlined and explored [1].Complexity can be managed by developing new development methods which support future trends of applications and computing platforms. Applications are nowadays often multithreaded and parallel programming paradigms are under continuous exploration [2]. Application development framework which alleviates the multithreading and parallel programming challenges can be the way to enable the development of future applications. Domain specific modelling (DSM) is an intelligent application development methodology which has been adopted on Manuscript received February 20, 2013; revised April 16, 2013 various domains already and there is no reason for abandoning DSM during era of parallel programming.In computing platform development, the network-on-chip architectures are explored and platform design methods should evolve towards their requirements. All in all the development of both software (SW) and hardware (HW) are going in a sense to same direction and certain correlations can be found from them. Still it seems that some similarities of these two engineering domains are not fully and utilised e.g. in the development tools. E.g. DSM and domain specific language (DSL) solutions could be utilised strongly also in HW development e.g. for VHDL an...