Introducing Hardware/Software Codesign in an Interdisciplinary Curriculum

1
Introducing Hardware/Software Codesign in
anInterdisciplinary Curriculum

• William B. Gardner Micaela Serra
• VLSI Design Test Group
• Dept. of Computer Science
• University of Victoria, BC

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Computer, June 1998

• In Pursuit of Hardware-Software Codesign, pp.
  12-14
• (blowup of page goes here)

3
Outline of Talk

• Background for Course
• who / why / what
• Codesign snapshot
• Course syllabus
• tools / projects / response
• Future directions

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Our Research Group

• VLSI Design Test _at_ Comp. Sci.

• Fault Tolerant Systems
• Testing DFT, BIST,Cellular Automata
• CAD algorithms BDDs,FPGA mapping
• Multiple Valued Logic

Regular course
Topics courses

• Codesign for embedded systems
• configware, heterogeneous simulation, interface
  synthesis

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Our Educational Concerns

• Are our undergrads ready for a systems world?
• Comp. Sci. B.Sc. Wheres the chips?
• Digital Logic course (now with FPGA)
• Design Analysis of Real-Time Systems
• mobile robots software for microcontroller
• ???

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Integrated Systems Design, July 1998

• The New System-Level Design Language(SLDL)

Requirements
Behaviour
Structure
Constraints
Discrete Event
Synch. Dataflow
VHDL
Verilog
Declarative
Esterel
Semantic Domains
Others
VSpec
Java
Notations
C/C
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Our Objectives

• Introduce students to world of embedded systems
  VLSI / FPGA µP / DSP
• Introduce our research into teaching
• Use codesign as the theme
• Demystify the technology
• comfort level empower

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Snapshotof Codesign

• Utopian view
• Origin in HW synthesis community

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System Design Flow
System Description

• Facilitate design space exploration rapid
  evaluation
• Research areas
• Cospecification
• Partitioning
• Cosynthesis
• Cosimulation

HW/SW Partitioning
Cosynthesis
Interface
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The Course

• CSc 485a/556 VLSI Design, CAD and
  Hardware/Software Codesign
• 4th year elective, grad-level course
• Main texts
• Specification Design of Embedded
  Systems,Gajski et al., PTR Prentice Hall, 1994.
• Hardware/Software Co-Design,De Micheli Sami,
  eds., Kluwer, 1996.

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Syllabus

• 13 week course

Intro to VLSI fab design, FPGAs, VHDL CAD
tools
Algorithms unified methods,partitioning
cosimulation
Overview methodologies
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Codesign Tools

• Academic tools hands-on assignments
• Ptolemy (U.C. Berkeley)
• build calculator using Synchronous Dataflow
• SpecSyn / SpecCharts (U.C. Irvine)
• design automotive controller (oil pressure, etc.)

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Other Tools

• Commercial CAD tools demos
• Mentor SDS,
• Synopsys VHDL/FPGA Compilers
• Xilinx XACT
• CMC Rapid-Prototyping Workshop case study
• Magic hands-on
• exposure to CMOS layout

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The Response

• Enrolment (2 terms, Fall 97 Winter 98)
• 30 students
• 28 CSc, 2 ECE
• 23 undergrads, 7 grads
• Projects, choice of
• 1. Literature survey presentation
• 2. Original design project

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Survey Projects

• Most with impressive web pages
• MEMS
• Chip fabrication
• Effects of radiation on VLSI

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Original Design Projects

• Palmtop systems
• Golf Guy with GPS (SpecSyn)
• Rowing Coach Assistant (Ptolemy VHDL)
• Checkers game (Ptolemy)
• HW/SW tradeoff re FPGA acceleration
• graphics card
• Java Virtual Machine

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Feedback

• Enjoyed from sand to chip fab technology
• Liked interdisciplinary (with CE)
  intradisciplinary (within CSc) aspects
• Required lots of skills, emphasized breadth
• HW related topics good prep for technical jobs in
  smaller engineering companies
• Fun to design whole system, use state-of-the-art
  tools, see many sides of design process

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Whats Next?

• Uvic Faculty of Engr., new joint programs
• CSc Software Engineering option (SENG)
• ECE Software Engineering specialization
• MechE/CE/CSc Embedded System specialization
• Codesign will be regular program course