Specification and functional partitioning in system design
Frank Vahid · 1994
Design effort is becoming focused on increasingly higher levels of abstraction, as a result of the maturation of methodologies and tools for chip-level design. We present a system-level methodology for partitioning a system's functionality among a set of components such as ASICs, processors, memories, and buses. The methodology requires an executable specification language. We describe the PSM model and the SpecCharts language for specifying a system's functionality. The model and language are intended for the specification of embedded systems. We discuss integration of front-end languages, such as the SpecCharts language, into an existing VHDL environment. We then discuss issues, algorithms, and techniques for functional partitioning. We introduce an approach for quickly obtaining estimations of design metrics during partitioning. Finally, we describe the SpecSyn environment for system specification and design. Throughout, we include experiments that indicate the feasibility and practicality of the presented methodology, techniques, and tools.