HIFI: a functional design system for VLSI processing arrays
Jurgen Annevelink, P. Dewilde · 2003
An overview is given of a design system called HIFI, for hierarchical interactive integration. It is a design system for VLSI that allows hierarchical refinement of pipelined signal (equivalently data) flowgraphs, until an architecture is obtained that can be realized in hardware. It is based on an extended definition of a signal flowgraph in which a CSP-like communication model is utilized on functional nodes. The model is chosen so that any deterministic system can be described by it and so that it can be decomposed or reassembled hierarchically in a consistent manner. Type-decomposition of edges is allowed as well. A prototype of the system has been implemented using Smalltalk. A number of examples have been worked out, of which one, a system for transitive closure, is presented.>