Macrocell Builder: IP-Block-Based Design Environment for High-Throughput VLSI Dedicated Digital Signal Processing Systems

We propose an efficient IP-block-based design environment for high-throughput VLSI systems. The flow generates SystemC register-transfer-level (RTL) architecture, starting from a Matlab functional model described as a netlist of functional IP. The refinement model inserts automatically control structures to manage delays induced by the use of RTL IPs. It also inserts a control structure to coordinate the execution of parallel clocked IP. The delays may be managed by registers or by counters included in the control structure. The flow has been used successfully in three real-world DSP systems. The experimentations show that the approach can produce efficient RTL architecture and allows to save huge amount of time.