Generating mixed hardware/software systems from SDL specifications

A new approach for the translation of SDL specifications to a mixed hardware/software system is presented. Based on the computational model of communicating extended finite state machines (EFSM) the control flow is separated from data flow of the SDL process. Hence for the first time it is possible to generate a mixed hardware/software implementation of an SDL process. This technique also reduces the complexity for high-level and register-transfer synthesis tools for the hardware parts of the system. The advantage of this methodology is shown by a design example of a wireless communication chip.