Hardware/Software Communication and System Integration for Embedded Architectures

Abstract

Embedded system architectures comprising of software programmable components (e.g. DSP, ASIP, and micro-controller cores) and customized hardware co-processors, integrated into a single cost-efficient VLSI chip, are emerging as a key solution to today's microelectronics design problems. This trend is being driven by new emerging applications in the areas of wireless communication, high-speed optical networking, and multimedia computing, fueled by increasing levels of integration. These applications are often subject to stringent requirements in terms of processing performance, power dissipation, and flexibility. A key problem confronted by embedded system designers today is the rapid prototyping of an application-specific embedded system architecture where different combinations of programmable processor components, library hardware components, and customized hardware components must be integrated together, while ensuring that the hardware and software parts communicate correctly. Designers often spend an enormous time on this highly error proned task. In this paper, we present a solution to this embedded architecture co-synthesis and system integration problem based on an orchestrated combination of architectural strategies, parameterized libraries, and software CAD tools.