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EECS249 Fall 1999: Design of Embedded Systems: Models, Validation and SynthesisThis course is about the design of embedded real-time systems. Embedded real-time systems are pervasive in today's world, their number tend to increase exponentially. Yet the design methodology used is still based on old principles and tools. The most important characteristic of these systems is the massive use of programmable components to achieve the design goals. Hence their design requires the use and optimization of both hardware and software. In this course, we will begin by outlining the revolution that is taking place in the electronic industry due to the advent of deep submicron and the continuing pressure on time-to-market. We present the notion of IP-based design and underline the challenges we will have to face. Then we will focus on a top-down bottom-up constraint driven design methodology that emphasizes the analysis and optimization of the top part of the design where all the important algorithmic and architectural decisions are taken. The notion of behavior will be analyzed and the role of nondeterminism in specification will be explained. The process of architecture selection will be presented and the notion of platform will be formally introduced with examples. At the behavioral design and architecture selection phase it is essential to use a formal view of design. We will present the basic models of computations that are needed to represent most of the designs: Finite-State Machines, Synchronous Languages, Data Flow Networks, Petri Nets. We will outline the use of a unified framework developed in collaboration with Prof. Lee to compare the different models of computation. Then, we will explore how to validate the design by simulation and formal verification. Simulation models for programmable parts will be emphasized. Ptolemy will be used as the underlying tool for simulation. Various techniques proposed in the literature will be reviewed. Hardware-software co-simulation will be presented and analyzed in details illustrating a number of approaches and commercial offerings. Then we will explore the issue of software design including optimization and the selection of scheduling algorithms to maximize resource utilization. The issue of communication among different parts of the design including the interface between hardware and software, will be discussed. In particular, the elements of a new design methodology that has been recently proposed, interface-based design, will be explained and analyzed. The framework for architecture selection, software optimization and real-time operating system design will be POLIS. We will use this environment to illustrate some of the key points of the design methodology. Industrial systems such as Felix VCC and Co-ware will be reviewed and demoed. The course is graded on the basis of assignments and of a final project. Given the link to present research activities we expect a number of projects will eventually be published in Conference Proceedings. We will devote the afternoon sessions fo the course to the presentation of important papers in the literature. The quality of class presentation on the papers is expected to be part of the grade. There are no pre-requisite for this course but it is preferable to have had some exposure to logic synthesis and simulation. At the end of the course the student will have a basic understanding of the system-level design issues in the areas of specification, validation and HW/SW implementation. Moreover, the student will gain experience on actual system designs through graded laboratories dealing with realistic design examples and case studies. The course reader including several important papers will be available as soon as the number of students taking the class will be known. Three key references for the course are Balarin, Chiodo et al., Hardware Software Co-design of Embedded Systems, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997. E. A. Lee and A. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, ``A Denotational Framework for Comparing Models of Computation,'' ERL Memorandum UCB/ERL M97/11, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, January 30, 1997. and the Special Issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE on Hardware Software Co-design edited by G. De Micheli, March 1997. The class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 11:00 and Tuesday at 5pm in the Hogan's Room, Cory Hall. Once a week we will organize a reading session where papers will be assigned to students to present to the class. We expect this hour to be Tuesday at 5pm. Course: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 249 P 1
LEC (4 units)
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