System-Level Design: Orthogonalization of Concerns and Platform-Based Design

Abstract—System-level design issues become critical as imple-mentation technology evolves toward increasingly complex inte-grated circuits and the time-to-market pressure continues relent-lessly. To cope with these issues, new methodologies that empha-size re-use at all levels of abstraction are a “must”, and this is a major focus of our work in the Gigascale Silicon Research Center. We present some important concepts for system design that are likely to provide at least some of the gains in productivity postu-lated above. In particular, we focus on a method that separates parts of the design process and makes them nearly independent so that complexity could be mastered. In this domain, architec-ture-function co-design and communication-based design are in-troduced and motivated. Platforms are essential elements of this design paradigm. We define system platforms and we argue about their use and relevance. Then we present an application of the design methodology to the design of wireless systems. Finally, we present a new approach to platform-based design called modern embedded systems, compilers, architectures and languages, based on highly concurrent and software-programmable architectures and associated design tools. Index Terms—Design automation, design methodology, digital systems, multiprocessor interconnection. I