HARPA: A Hierarchical Multi-Level Hardware Description Language

In this paper, a new hardware description language -HARPA- is presented which was specially designed to permit the description of hierarchically structured digital systems at different levels of abstraction. The system building modules can be represented in terms of their structure, their behavior or a combination of both, as appropriate. A set of data types is provided which is adequate to characterize the data handling entities utilized at the various levels. Conversion mechanisms exist that facilitate the interfacing of blocks. The language is used as input medium for a multi-level simulator for verification of hierarchical designs.