Forum on specification and Design Languages 

About: Forum on specification and Design Languages is an academic conference. The conference publishes majorly in the area(s): SystemC & Formal verification. Over the lifetime, 635 publications have been published by the conference receiving 4144 citations.

SyReC: A programming language for synthesis of reversible circuits

Abstract: Reversible logic serves as a basis for emerging technologies like quantum computing and additionally has applications in low-power design. In particular, since conventional technologies like CMOS are going to reach their limits in the near future, reversible logic has been established as a promising alternative. Thus, in the last years this area started to become intensely studied by researchers. In particular, how to efficiently synthesize complex reversible circuits is an important question. So far, only synthesis approaches are available that rely on Boolean function representations, like e.g., truth tables or decision diagrams.

A SystemC-based framework for modeling and simulation of networked embedded systems

Abstract: Next-generation networked embedded systems pose new challenges in the design and simulation domains. System design choices may affect the network behavior and network design choices may impact on the system design. For this reason, it is important -at the early stages of the design flow- to model and simulate not only the system under design, but also the heterogeneous networked environment in which it operates. For this purpose, we have exploited a modeling language traditionally used for System design -SystemC- to build a system/network simulator named SystemC Network Simulation Library (SCNSL). This library allows to model network scenarios in which different kinds of nodes, or nodes described at different abstraction levels, interact together. The use of SystemC as unique tool has the advantage that HW, SW, and network can be jointly designed, validated and refined. As a case study, the proposed tool has been used to simulate a sensor network application and it has been compared with NS-2, a well-known network simulator; SCNSL shows nearly two-order-magnitude speed up with TLM modeling and about the same performance as NS-2 with a mixed TLM/RTL scenario. The simulator is partially available to the community at http://sourceforge.net/projects/scnsl/.

Efficient Representation and Simulation of Model-Based Designs.

Abstract: Actor-based design is based on composing a system of communicating processes called actors, which can only communicate with each other via channels. However, actor-based design does not constrain the communication behavior of its actors therefore making analyses of the system in general impossible. In a model-based design methodology the underlying Model of Computation (MoC) is known additionally which is given by a predefined type of communication behavior and a scheduling strategy for the actors. In this paper, we propose a library based on the design language SystemC called SysteMoC which provides a simulation environment for model-based designs. We will introduce the syntax and semantics supported by SysteMoC as well as discuss the simulation environment and present first results of using SysteMoC for modeling and simulation of signal processing applications. The library-based approach unites the advantage of executability with analyzability of many expressive MoCs. Finally, we compare the simulative performance of SysteMoC with other executable languages such as C++, regular SystemC, and modelling environments such as Ptolemy II.

A contract-based formalism for the specification of heterogeneous systems

Abstract: We present the mathematical formalism and the verification methodology of the contract-based model developed in the framework of the SPEEDS project. SPEEDS aims at developing methods and tools to support ldquospeculative designrdquo, a design methodology in which distributed designers develop different aspects of the overall system, in a concurrent but controlled way. Our generic mathematical model of contract supports this style of development. This is achieved by focusing on behaviors, by supporting the notion of ldquorich componentrdquo where functional and non-functional aspects of the system can be considered and combined, by representing rich components via their set of associated contracts, and by formalizing the process of component composition.

SystemCXML: An Exstensible SystemC Front end Using XML.

Abstract: To draw full benefit of the possibilities that system level design languages such as SystemC offer, we require tools that enhance the design experience through visual representation of models, improved debugging facilities, integrated development environments, etc. the primary task in providing these tools is the parsing of SystemC source to directly extract the structural design information. In this paper, we present a front end for SystemC called SystemCXML that uses an XML-based approach to achieve the extraction of structural information from SystemC models, which can be easily exploited by different back end passes for analysis, visualization and other structural analysis purposes. Our unique approach uses the documentation system Doxygen and an Open Source XML parser. We demonstrate its extensibility by incorporating an automated graph generator that visualizes the SystemC module hierarchy.