The VLSI High-Level Synthesis for Building Onboard Spacecraft Control Systems

Abstract

Using small spacecrafts for a wide range of research and applied purposes is one of the major trends in the aerospace field. Modular-network architectures implemented on the "system-on-chip" hardware platform provide required characteristics of onboard control systems. Selecting this system architecture significantly increases demands on very large-scale integration (VLSI) design efficiency and project solution quality. In this paper, we propose a new approach to VLSI high-level synthesis based on a functional-flow parallel computing model. The modified VLSI design flow uses a functional-flow parallel programming language Pythagoras, which allows describing a VLSI operation algorithm with the maximal degree of parallelism. An offered intermediate representation of VLSI architecture in the form of a control-flow graph and a data-flow graph provides an opportunity for synthesizing circuits and verifying projects on the stage of a formal description, without returning to previous hierarchical levels of the project. A set of software tools supporting new design process is developed. The proposed technology is successfully tested on the example of a digital signal processing function. Further, this technology is suggested for use in the synthesis of onboard control system components for small spacecrafts.