SoC design is becoming much more a matter of design composition than of design creation (figure 2). Historically,HDL and schematic based design flows have centered on creation of new logic to implement the necessary functionality. Increasingly, ICs are comprised of a collection of IP blocks (microprocessors, DSPs, and other pre-existing functions), memories, and moderate amounts of glue logic. For these circuits, devising how and what blocks will be utilized, how functionality will be divided between hardware and software, and how the system will be interconnected and verified are the primary foci. A composition-based, or reuse-based, methodology is one that acknowledges this shift in focus and better addresses SoC designers’needs. Four key factors distinguish an SoC design methodology (figure 3) from its content-centric predecessor. The first is a more demanding system-level design phase in which software developers and system architects consider in great depth IP block analysis, selection, and interfaces in the design planning process. The second is SoC-centric embedded software design. Third is a multitiered verification methodology that takes full advantage of early-design simulation techniques, enables concurrent hardware/software verification, and minimizes the designer’s dependence upon late-design verification for analysis
and debug. Finally, since IP, EDA tools and models are still evolving to support the SoC design style, consulting services that serve to bridge gaps where tool and design expertise or infrastructure are lacking are often an important element in a block-based methodology.
SoC design is becoming much more a matter of design composition than of design creation (figure 2). Historically,HDL and schematic based design flows have centered on creation of new logic to implement the necessary functionality. Increasingly, ICs are comprised of a collection of IP blocks (microprocessors, DSPs, and other pre-existing functions), memories, and moderate amounts of glue logic. For these circuits, devising how and what blocks will be utilized, how functionality will be divided between hardware and software, and how the system will be interconnected and verified are the primary foci. A composition-based, or reuse-based, methodology is one that acknowledges this shift in focus and better addresses SoC designers’needs. Four key factors distinguish an SoC design methodology (figure 3) from its content-centric predecessor. The first is a more demanding system-level design phase in which software developers and system architects consider in great depth IP block analysis, selection, and interfaces in the design planning process. The second is SoC-centric embedded software design. Third is a multitiered verification methodology that takes full advantage of early-design simulation techniques, enables concurrent hardware/software verification, and minimizes the designer’s dependence upon late-design verification for analysisand debug. Finally, since IP, EDA tools and models are still evolving to support the SoC design style, consulting services that serve to bridge gaps where tool and design expertise or infrastructure are lacking are often an important element in a block-based methodology.
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