Book•
Specification and Design of Embedded Systems
01 Jul 1994-
TL;DR: 1. System-Design Methodology and Environment, Models and Architectures, and Specification Languages: Answering Machine in SpecCharts.
Abstract: 1 Introduction 2 Models and Architectures 3 Specification Languages 4 A Specification Example 5 Translation to VHDL 6 System Partitioning 7 Design Quality Estimation 8 Specification Refinement into Synthesizable Models 9 System-Design Methodology and Environment Appendix: Answering Machine in SpecCharts Bibliography Index
Citations
More filters
Book•
02 Nov 2007
TL;DR: This book is intended as an introduction to the entire range of issues important to reconfigurable computing, using FPGAs as the context, or "computing vehicles" to implement this powerful technology.
Abstract: The main characteristic of Reconfigurable Computing is the presence of hardware that can be reconfigured to implement specific functionality more suitable for specially tailored hardware than on a simple uniprocessor. Reconfigurable computing systems join microprocessors and programmable hardware in order to take advantage of the combined strengths of hardware and software and have been used in applications ranging from embedded systems to high performance computing. Many of the fundamental theories have been identified and used by the Hardware/Software Co-Design research field. Although the same background ideas are shared in both areas, they have different goals and use different approaches.This book is intended as an introduction to the entire range of issues important to reconfigurable computing, using FPGAs as the context, or "computing vehicles" to implement this powerful technology. It will take a reader with a background in the basics of digital design and software programming and provide them with the knowledge needed to be an effective designer or researcher in this rapidly evolving field.
· Treatment of FPGAs as computing vehicles rather than glue-logic or ASIC substitutes
· Views of FPGA programming beyond Verilog/VHDL
· Broad set of case studies demonstrating how to use FPGAs in novel and efficient ways
531 citations
01 Mar 1997
TL;DR: Co-design issues and their relationship to classical system implementation tasks are discussed to help develop a perspective on modern digital system design that relies on computer aided design (CAD) tools and methods.
Abstract: Most electronic systems, whether self contained or embedded, have a predominant digital component consisting of a hardware platform which executes software application programs. Hardware/software co-design means meeting system level objectives by exploiting the synergism of hardware and software through their concurrent design. Co-design problems have different flavors according to the application domain, implementation technology and design methodology. Digital hardware design has increasingly more similarities to software design. Hardware circuits are often described using modeling or programming languages, and they are validated and implemented by executing software programs, which are sometimes conceived for the specific hardware design. Current integrated circuits can incorporate one (or more) processor core(s) and memory array(s) on a single substrate. These "systems on silicon" exhibit a sizable amount of embedded software, which provides flexibility for product evolution and differentiation purposes. Thus the design of these systems requires designers to be knowledgeable in both hardware and software domains to make good design tradeoffs. The paper introduces various aspects of co-design. We highlight the commonalities and point out the differences in various co-design problems in some application areas. Co-design issues and their relationship to classical system implementation tasks are discussed to help develop a perspective on modern digital system design that relies on computer aided design (CAD) tools and methods.
469 citations
Cites background from "Specification and Design of Embedde..."
...Hardware/software co-design has attracted the attention of several research groups worldwide, as documented by books [29], [ 39 ], [95], journal articles, and publications in symposia....
[...]
TL;DR: This tutorial presents a cohesive view of power-conscious system-level design, which considers systems as consisting of a hardware platform executing software programs, and considers the major constituents of systems: processors, memories and communication resources.
Abstract: This tutorial surveys design methods for energy-efficient system-level design. We consider electronic sytems consisting of a hardware platform and software layers. We consider the three major constituents of hardware that consume energy, namely computation, communication, and storage units, and we review methods of reducing their energy consumption. We also study models for analyzing the energy cost of software, and methods for energy-efficient software design and compilation. This survery is organized around three main phases of a system design: conceptualization and modeling design and implementation, and runtime management. For each phase, we review recent techniques for energy-efficient design of both hardware and software.
444 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: Embedded System Design can be used as a text book for courses on embedded systems and as a source which provides pointers to relevant material in the area for PhD students and teachers.
Abstract: Until the late eighties, information processing was associated with large mainframe computers and huge tape drives. During the nineties, this trend shifted towards information processing with personal computers, or PCs. The trend towards miniaturization continues. In the future, most of the information processing systems will be quite small and embedded into larger products such as transportation and fabrication equipment. Hence, these kinds of systems are called embedded systems. It is expected that the total market volume of embedded systems will be significantly larger than that of traditional information processing systems such as PCs and mainframes. Embedded systems share a number of common characteristics. For example, they must be dependable, efficient, meet real-time constraints and require customized user interfaces (instead of generic keyboard and mouse interfaces). Therefore, it makes sense to consider common principles of embedded system design. Embedded System Design starts with an introduction into the area and a survey of specification languages for embedded systems.A brief overview is provided of hardware devices used for embedded systems and also presents the essentials of software design for embedded systems. Real-time operating systems and real-time scheduling are covered briefly.Techniques for implementing embedded systems are also discussed, using hardware/software codesign. It closes with a survey on validation techniques. Embedded System Designcan be used as a text book for courses on embedded systems and as a source which provides pointers to relevant material in the area for PhD students and teachers. The book assumes a basic knowledge of information processing hardware and software.
390 citations
16 Apr 1998
TL;DR: This work describes an implementation of Active Pages on RADram (Reconfigurable Architecture DRAM), a memory system based upon the integration of DRAM and reconfigurable logic and explores the sensitivity of the results to implementations in other memory technologies.
Abstract: Microprocessors and memory systems suffer from a growing gap in performance. We introduce Active Pages, a computation model which addresses this gap by shifting data-intensive computations to the memory system. An Active Page consists of a page of data and a set of associated functions which can operate upon that data. We describe an implementation of Active Pages on RADram (Reconfigurable Architecture DRAM), a memory system based upon the integration of DRAM and reconfigurable logic. Results from the SimpleScalar simulator [BA97] demonstrate up to 1000X speedups on several applications using the RADram system versus conventional memory systems. We also explore the sensitivity of our results to implementations in other memory technologies.
311 citations
Cites methods from "Specification and Design of Embedde..."
...This partitioning problem is very similar to that encountered in hardware-software co-design systems [ GVNG94 ] which must divide code into pieces which run on general purpose processors and pieces which are implemented by ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits)....
[...]
References
More filters
TL;DR: There is a deep and useful connection between statistical mechanics and multivariate or combinatorial optimization (finding the minimum of a given function depending on many parameters), and a detailed analogy with annealing in solids provides a framework for optimization of very large and complex systems.
Abstract: There is a deep and useful connection between statistical mechanics (the behavior of systems with many degrees of freedom in thermal equilibrium at a finite temperature) and multivariate or combinatorial optimization (finding the minimum of a given function depending on many parameters). A detailed analogy with annealing in solids provides a framework for optimization of the properties of very large and complex systems. This connection to statistical mechanics exposes new information and provides an unfamiliar perspective on traditional optimization problems and methods.
41,772 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that input and output are basic primitives of programming and that parallel composition of communicating sequential processes is a fundamental program structuring method.
Abstract: This paper suggests that input and output are basic primitives of programming and that parallel composition of communicating sequential processes is a fundamental program structuring method. When combined with a development of Dijkstra's guarded command, these concepts are surprisingly versatile. Their use is illustrated by sample solutions of a variety of a familiar programming exercises.
11,419 citations
TL;DR: A heuristic method for partitioning arbitrary graphs which is both effective in finding optimal partitions, and fast enough to be practical in solving large problems is presented.
Abstract: We consider the problem of partitioning the nodes of a graph with costs on its edges into subsets of given sizes so as to minimize the sum of the costs on all edges cut. This problem arises in several physical situations — for example, in assigning the components of electronic circuits to circuit boards to minimize the number of connections between boards. This paper presents a heuristic method for partitioning arbitrary graphs which is both effective in finding optimal partitions, and fast enough to be practical in solving large problems.
5,082 citations
TL;DR: A useful correspondence is developed between any hierarchical system of such clusters, and a particular type of distance measure, that gives rise to two methods of clustering that are computationally rapid and invariant under monotonic transformations of the data.
Abstract: Techniques for partitioning objects into optimally homogeneous groups on the basis of empirical measures of similarity among those objects have received increasing attention in several different fields. This paper develops a useful correspondence between any hierarchical system of such clusters, and a particular type of distance measure. The correspondence gives rise to two methods of clustering that are computationally rapid and invariant under monotonic transformations of the data. In an explicitly defined sense, one method forms clusters that are optimally “connected,” while the other forms clusters that are optimally “compact.”
4,560 citations
01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: An iterative mincut heuristic for partitioning networks is presented whose worst case computation time, per pass, grows linearly with the size of the network.
Abstract: An iterative mincut heuristic for partitioning networks is presented whose worst case computation time, per pass, grows linearly with the size of the network. In practice, only a very small number of passes are typically needed, leading to a fast approximation algorithm for mincut partitioning. To deal with cells of various sizes, the algorithm progresses by moving one cell at a time between the blocks of the partition while maintaining a desired balance based on the size of the blocks rather than the number of cells per block. Efficient data structures are used to avoid unnecessary searching for the best cell to move and to minimize unnecessary updating of cells affected by each move.
2,463 citations