Automatic SystemC design configuration for a faster evaluation of different partitioning alternatives

In this paper we present a methodology that is based on SystemC for rapid prototyping to greatly enhance and accelerate the exploration of complex systems to optimize the system architecture. The approach introduces a methodology to automatically configure system components with regards to the memory mapping of modules. The approach reduces the implementation effort that in conventional approaches has to be done by hand to re-assign and re-configure modules in a system. This does not only save time for manual adaptation but also reduces the chance to introduce errors like known from complex manual modifications. The new approach for automatic system configuration is derived as one of the results and features that come along with the module-adapter (MA) based approach that we have proposed in different presentations (Bannow, 2004). One of the main goals, our proposed methodology has to fulfill, are industrial requirements such as applicability for complex system development, integration of existing IP, improved code quality and decreased development effort. The automated system configuration as well as the whole MA based approach greatly support the designers in the concept phase to simulate a design before the implementation starts