Elements of a SystemC Design Platform

Abstact:- Modern digital design, having to cope with the increasing device and application complexities, is based on high-level textual system specifications. While languages like VHDL and Verilog HDL have been effec-tively put to use for hardware design, system level hardware/software codesign requires more abstract and more powerful specification languages, like SystemC. However, for SystemC to be effective, it must be integrated in the existing design flow, taking advantage of previous work, avoiding past mistakes and generating the least possible new, offering clear and distinct advantages, implementing the latest research results and helping designers over-come the learning curve. This paper discusses issues of a pure SystemC design platform, states its applicability and its new perspective in system level design and offers tool interoperability solutions. Through such platforms, SystemC can leverage digital design industry from high level hardware design to system level hardware/software codesign