Combining virtual benchmarking with rapid system prototyping for real-time embedded multiprocessor signal processing system codesign

Abstract

The codesign of embedded real-time signal processing systems is complex. The use of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) multiprocessor (MP) hardware and software can reduce codesign complexity. Further complexity reduction can be obtained with emerging rapid system prototyping (RSP) frameworks, which can generate deployable code by leveraging vendor communication and computation libraries. However, these RSP frameworks are inadequate in providing a sound specification and design methodology (SDM) because they require the designer to first choose the implementation target before specification and design exploration. We have developed a new SDM known as MAGIC that allows the designer to capture the specification in an executable model that can then be used in design exploration to find the optimal COTS MP technology and architecture before committing to that technology. The MAGIC SDM exploits emerging open-standards based VSIPL computation middleware and MPI communication middleware to provide connectivity between specification and design with RSP frameworks for implementation. IntroductionThe process of designing large real-time embedded signal processing systems is plagued by a lack of coherent specification and design methodology (SDM). A canonical waterfall design process is commonly used to specify, design, and implement these systems with commercial-off-theshelf (COTS) multiprocessing (MP) hardware and software. Powerful frameworks exist for each individual phase of this canonical design process, but no single methodology exists which enables these frameworks to work together coherently, i.e., allowing the output of a framework used in one phase to be consumed by a different framework used in the next phase.COTS MP Technology. This lack of coherence usually leads to design errors that are not caught until well into the implementation phase. Since the cost of redesign increases as the design moves through these three stages, redesign is the most expensive if not performed until the implementation phase, thus making the current incoherent methodology costly. This paper shows how designs targeting COTS MP technologies can be improved by providing a coherent coupling between these frameworks, a quality known as "model continuity."The codesign of embedded real-time signal processing systems is complex and made more difficult when pressed by time-to-market. The use of COTS MP hardware and software is usually required by the customer and/or necessitated by time-to-market. This can reduce the complexity of the codesign by constraining the hardware search space. Further complexity reduction can be obtained by the use of emerging rapid system prototyping (RSP) frameworks created for COTS MP-based codesign. These frameworks provide GUI canvases for hardware and software design as well as configuration and integration, and also possess effective code generation that produces deployable code by leveraging vendor communication and computation libraries.While these RSP frameworks are great aids for implementation, they are inad...

Requirements-document-based prototyping of CARA software

“…(2) (10) There is no requirement for redundancy, with the exception of redundancy implied by blood pressure measurements. We modeled a TMR (triple modular redundancy) architecture in the CARA algorithm in model 1.…”

“…Prototyping, as an economic way to build scale models and prototype versions of most systems, has proven an efficient and effective methodology for evaluation of proposed systems when acceptance by the customer or feasibility of development is in doubt [5,12,18,27]. Computeraided prototyping can build a scaled-down version of the software system and ensure that the requirements are satisfied before extensive effort is put into detailed implementation [9,10,14,28].…”