Research

Scott March 7th, 2007

SystemC-on-a-Chip
  • SystemC-on-a-Chip is a virtual platform framework that enables a student/designer to write SystemC applications at the logic, register transfer, behavioral or structural level, and immediately test that design on any real platform with real input/output that supports the virtual platform.
  • SystemC-on-a-Chip on a Spartan Board

  • In contrast to more traditional system design approaches, the SystemC-on-a-Chip framework does not rely on costly and difficult-to-use mapping/synthesis tool suites. Instead, SystemC applications are compiled and interpreted, allowing a designer to write, compile, and download a design to a real platform in minutes, and with access to all the real peripherals just as if the designer had actually mapped and synthesized the design to the platform. The SystemC-on-a-Chip framework thus allows for quick prototyping and testing on the real platform, complementing the simulation process on a standard PC and the final implementation on the platform.
  • Programming Flow Contrasts

  • The SystemC-on-a-Chip framework can be useful in beginning digital design, embedded systems, and parallel computing courses, allowing students to focus on fundamental and good design/programming practices, and not on the often complex and difficult-to-use design flows for traditional platform programming that hinder productivity and cause frustration. Students with a background in C++ development will find SystemC more approachable than traditional hardware description languages(HDL) like VHDL or Verilog. Similarly, the SystemC-on-a-Chip framewrok compiles SystemC applications in seconds using a very familiar compilation process built on top of GCC. The SystemC-on-a-Chip framework can be used in conjunction with existing software simulation practices to give the user the satisfaction of seeing a design work on a real platform, and in a much more timely and simpler manner.
  • Below shows a simple Windows interface that will soon be released that that allows a student to quickly and easily write SystemC code, and immediately run that code on the Xilinx Spartan 3E, without using any synthesis or mapping tools. One tool, fewer mistakes
  • SystemC Environment

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