Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences

IP component based system-on-chip design demands an integration, architectural trade-off exploration, and verification environment. Such an environment can only be effective, if system integrators can integrate components from libraries easily, with fast turn-around time and can efficiently simulate for functional and performance validation.

The advent of C++ based design libraries such as SystemC, Cynlib, and other similar design environments, such as SpecC, allows IP designers to create C++ component libraries, which are either pre-packaged generic elements, or specialized IP blocks. However, mere availability of such components does not necessarily imply ease of integration, or fast architectural exploration. The designers/system integrators need an environment that allows them to think about composable design elements, as hardware elements, and lets them use such elements without having to go through C++ software engineering cycles, such as intergation coding in C++, recompilation, and the corresponding softvvare problems.