Abdallah Tabbara, Graduate Student
(Professor Robert K. Brayton) (Professor A. Richard Newton)
Funding Sources: GSRC,
We are currently in the process of developing a software infrastructure for NexSIS, a new IP integration SoC framework. The first part of the implementation has been focused on developing a new data structure that is able to hold useful information about an SoC design. The characteristics that have been deemed necessary for such a database are: support for hierarchical descriptions, ability to represent designs at different abstraction levels, and provision for easy integration of different design tools into flows.
The main datastructure is called CoBase which stands for component database to emphasize the importance of component based design in SoC. The description tries to learn the lessons of previous data model systems. One such lesson is the separation between abstract and concrete syntax through the use of the XML for data persistence and exchange.
A number of examples are currently in the process of being developed and studied to serve as benchmarks for this domain. These include randomly generated examples with certain required characteristics as well real SoC designs, such as new microprocessors designs, e.g. Torch, picoJava-II, Sparc V8.
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