The last two decades have witnessed the birth of revolutionary technologies in data communications including wireless technologies, System on Chip (SoC), Multi Processor SoC (MPSoC), Network on Chip (NoC), and more. At the same time we have witnessed that performance does not always keep pace with expectations in many services like multimediaservices and biomedical applications. Moreover, the IT market has suffered from some crashes. Hence, this triggered us to think of making use of available technologies and developing new ones so that the performance level is suitable for given applications and services. In the medical field, from a statistical viewpoint, the biggest diseases in number of deaths are heart diseases, namely Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and Stroke. The application with the largest market for CVD is the electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG) analysis. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2003, 29.2% of global deaths are due to CVD and Stroke, half of which could be prevented if there was proper monitoring. We found in the new advance in microelectronics, NoC, SoC, and MPSoC, a chance of a solution for such a big problem. We look at the communication technologies, wireless networks, and MPSoC and realize that many projects can be founded, and they may affect people's lives positively, as for example, curing people more rapidly, as well as homecare of such large scale diseases. These projects have a medical impact as well as economic and social impacts. The intention is to use performance analysis of interconnected microelectronic systems and combine it with MPSoC and NoC technologies in order to evolve to new systems on chip that may make a difference. Technically, we aim at rendering more computations in less time, on a chip with smaller volume, and with less expense. The performance demand and the vision of having a market success, i.e. contributing to lower healthcare costs, pose many challenges on the hardware/software co-design to meet these goals. This calls upon the development of new integrated circuits featuring increased energy efficiency while providing higher computation capabilities, i.e. better performance. The biomedical application of ECG analysis is an ideal target for an application-specific SoC implementation. However, new 12-lead ECG analyses algorithms are needed to meet the aforementioned goals. In this thesis, we present two novel algorithms for ECG analysis, namely the Autocorrelation-Function (ACF) based algorithm and the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) based algorithm. In this respect, we explore the design space by analyzing different hardware and software architectures. As a result, we realize a design with twelve processors that can compute 3.5 million arithmetic computations and respect the real time hard deadline for our biomedical application (3.5-4seconds), and that can deploy the ACF-based and FFT-based algorithms. Then, we investigate the configuration space looking for the most effective solution, performance and energy-wise. Consequently, we present three interconnect architectures (Single Bus, Full Crossbar, and Partial Crossbar) and compare them with existing solutions. The sampling frequencies of 2.2 KHz and 4 KHz, with 12 DSPs, are found to be the critical points for our Shared-Bus design and Crossbar architecture, respectively. We also show how our performance analysis methods can be applied to such a field of SoC design and with a specific purpose application in order to converge to a solution that is acceptable from a performance viewpoint, meets the real-time demands, and can be implemented with the present technologies while at the same time paving the way for easier and faster development. In order to connect our MPSoC solution to communication networks to transmit the medical results to a healthcare center, we come up with new protocols that will allow the integration of multiple networks on chips in a communication network. Finally, we present a methodology for HW/SW Codesign for application-specific systems (with focus on biomedical applications) that require a large number of computations since this will foster the convergence to solutions that are acceptable from a performance point of view. / QC 20100624

In system-on-chip designs, memory designs store data to be accessed by processing modules. Memory access time can affect overall system performance significantly. In this research, we implemented a configurable architecture of a basic memory module and its design composition, including memory interface, memory controller, memory array, row buffer, row decoder and column decoder. We explore various memory module designs. Utilizing the configurable architecture, we can effectively reduce design time and improve access time of memory module designs. We also realized these functionalities in SystemC language and performed configurability experiments.

Todays modern warfare puts high demands on military equipment. Where soldiers are concerned, types of communication equipment such as radios, displays and headsets play a central role. A modern soldier is often required to maintain communication links with other military units. These units can, for example, consist of platoon commanders, headquarters and other soldiers. If the soldier needs to make a report to several units, the message needs to be sent to several radio networks that are connected to these separate units. This multiplicity in turn requires several items of radio equipment connected to the radio network frequencies. Considering all the communication equipment that is used by a modern soldier, the parallel data flow and all the weight a soldier needs to carry, can get quite extensive.  \noindentAt Saab AB it has been proven that a combination of powerful embedded hardware platforms and cross platform software fulfills the communication needs. However, the weight issue still remains as these embedded platforms are quite bulky and hard to carry. In order to increase the portability, a tailored Android application for smaller low-power embedded hardware platform has been developed at Saab AB. Saab AB has also developed a portable analogue interconnection unit for connecting three radios and a headset, the SKE (Sammankopplingsenhet). \noindentSaab AB intends to develop a new product for soldiers, the RPCS (Rugged Portable Communication System), with capacities of running the Android application and combining the audio processing functionality of the SKE. This thesis focuses on developing a hardware platform prototype for the RPCS using Beagleboard. The SKE audio processing functionality is developed as a software application running on the Beagleboard.

The field of chip design is characterized by contradictory pressures to reduce time-to-market and maintain a high level of reliability. As a result, module reuse has become common practice in chip design. To save time on both design and verification, Systems-on-Chips (SoCs) are composed using pre-designed and pre-verified modules. The integrated modules are often designed by different groups and for different purposes, and are later integrated into a single chip. In the absence of a single interface standard for such modules, "plug-n-play" style integration is not likely, as the subject modules are often designed to comply with different interface protocols. For such modules to communicate correctly there is a need for some glue logic, also called a protocol converter that mediates between them. Though much research has been dedicated to the protocol converter synthesis problem of SoC communication, converter synthesis is still performed manually, consuming development and verification time and risking human error. Current approaches to automatic synthesis of protocol converters mostly lack formal foundations and either employ abstractions far removed from the Hardware Description Language (HDL) implementation level or grossly simplify the structure of the protocols considered. This thesis develops and presents techniques for automatic synthesis of provably correct on-chip protocol converters. Basing the solution on a formal approach, a novel state-machine based formalism is presented for modelling bus-based protocols and formalizing the notions of protocol compatibility and correct protocol conversion. Algorithms for automatic compatibility checking and provably-correct converter synthesis are derived from the formalism, including a systematic exploration of the design space of the protocol converter, the first in the field, which enables generation of various alternative deterministic converters. The work presented is unique in its combination of a completely formal approach and the use of a low abstraction level that enables precise modelling of protocol characteristics and automatic translation of the constructed converter to HDL.

The field of chip design is characterized by contradictory pressures to reduce time-to-market and maintain a high level of reliability. As a result, module reuse has become common practice in chip design. To save time on both design and verification, Systems-on-Chips (SoCs) are composed using pre-designed and pre-verified modules. The integrated modules are often designed by different groups and for different purposes, and are later integrated into a single chip. In the absence of a single interface standard for such modules, "plug-n-play" style integration is not likely, as the subject modules are often designed to comply with different interface protocols. For such modules to communicate correctly there is a need for some glue logic, also called a protocol converter that mediates between them. Though much research has been dedicated to the protocol converter synthesis problem of SoC communication, converter synthesis is still performed manually, consuming development and verification time and risking human error. Current approaches to automatic synthesis of protocol converters mostly lack formal foundations and either employ abstractions far removed from the Hardware Description Language (HDL) implementation level or grossly simplify the structure of the protocols considered. This thesis develops and presents techniques for automatic synthesis of provably correct on-chip protocol converters. Basing the solution on a formal approach, a novel state-machine based formalism is presented for modelling bus-based protocols and formalizing the notions of protocol compatibility and correct protocol conversion. Algorithms for automatic compatibility checking and provably-correct converter synthesis are derived from the formalism, including a systematic exploration of the design space of the protocol converter, the first in the field, which enables generation of various alternative deterministic converters. The work presented is unique in its combination of a completely formal approach and the use of a low abstraction level that enables precise modelling of protocol characteristics and automatic translation of the constructed converter to HDL.

Real-time image processing requires not only sophisticated heuristic algorithms customized for a particular application, but also needs substantial computational power to handle a massive quantity of input image data. Reconfigurable System-on- Chip (rSoC), a powerful method to harness the power of FPGA technology, is well suited to real-time image processing. It balances the design cost and performance via a combination of hardware and software. However, hardware/software co-design requires specialized design skills, and designs are complex. This thesis investigates how best to use FPGA-based reconfigurable computing to provide efficient speed-up of real-time image processing algorithms. Existing rSoC systems, face detection and recognition algorithms, hardware/software co-design methods are first reviewed and analyzed. The advantages and disadvantages of existing research results are also presented. However, these existing approaches all have shortcomings. A new rSoC system without a separate host machine is presented for standalone embedded platforms. A new hardware/software co-design method including hardware/software communication and partitioning is also explained. This rSoC system is a highly modular system, it runs without a host machine and it supports the Linux operating systems. Hardware and software designs can be rapidly implemented on this new platform. A new method for hardware/software communication in rSoC design is presented, which is based on shared memory and semaphores, and makes hardware coprocessors appear like software processes. Individual processes in hardware-software systems can communicate without knowing whether other co-operating processes are hardware or software. This approach enables re-useable hardware components to be readily accessed by designers, without specialist hardware knowledge. Processes also can be easily swapped between hardware and software. The partitioning method handles the software/hardware partition iteratively during the implementation. The partition is based on experimental profiling, so it is easier to realize and may achieve a more optimal result than a fixed a priori partition. An example face recognition system has been implemented to test the new design method. It is a four-stage pipeline architecture which contains image capture, face detection, image enhancement, and face recognition. Firstly, a software-only solution using semaphores and shared memory method is implemented on a Linux PC. Results of 5.5 frames per second indicate that the speed may not be fast enough for real-time image processing. Secondly, that software-only solution is moved to the new rSoC platform. The performance of 0.1 frames per second is worse than PC platform since the PC’s CPU is much more powerful than the rSoC’s. Finally the new design method is used to move some bottleneck modules to hardware. The new hardware/software communication method is used, so software modules remain unchanged and unaware of the movement of other modules to hardware. Results show that moving only one module to hardware was not helpful. However when both the bottleneck modules were moved to hardware, the system speedup was approximately 200 with a final system speed of 19 frames per second.

Zugl.: Freiburg (Breisgau), Univ., Diss., 2007

In this report the two-tone PLL circuit intended for on-chip test of RF blocks is presented. The primary application is the third order intermodulation test (TOI), vital for RF front-ends. If the spectral analysis can also be completed by DSP available on the chip or on board, it provides a built in self-test (BiST) which can replace costly test instrumentation (ATE). The advantage of the designed two-tone PLL is that it practically prevents the locking effect while keeping the two oscillation frequencies close. Also by careful design the possible intermodulation distortion of the two-tone stimulus can be avoided. The two-tone PLL has been designed and verified at the system level using Verilog-A models in Cadence TM. Besides, two building blocks of the PLL were implemented at the circuit level in 90nm CMOS technology. The obtained results are promising in terms of a practical two-tone BiST implementation.

As the IT industry marks a paradigm shift from the traditional system design model to System-On-Chip (SOC) design, the design of custom hardware, embedded processors and associated software have become very tightly coupled. Any change in the implementation of one of the components affects the design of other components and, in turn, the performance of the system. This has led to an integrated design approach known as hardware/software co-design and co-verification. The conventional techniques for co-design favor partitioning the system into hardware and software components at an early stage of the design and then iteratively refining it until a good solution is found. This method is expensive and time consuming. A more modern approach is to model the whole system and rigorously test and refine it before the partitioning is done. The key to this method is the ability to model and simulate the entire system. The advent of new System Level Modeling Languages (SLML), like SystemC, has made this possible. This research proposes a strategy to automate the process of partitioning a system model after it has been simulated and verified. The partitioning idea is based on systems modeled using Process Model Graphs (PmG). It is possible to extract a PmG directly from a SLML like SystemC. The PmG is then annotated with additional attributes like IO delay and rate of activation. A complexity heuristic is generated from this information, which is then used by a greedy algorithm to partition the graph into different architectures. Further, a command line tool has been developed that can process textually represented PmGs and partition them based on this approach. / Master of Science

Die umfassende Beobachtbarkeit von System‐on‐Chips (SoCs) ist eine wichtige Voraussetzung für das effiziente Testen und Debuggen eingebetteter Systeme. Ausgehend von einer Analyse verschiedener Anwendungsfälle ergibt sich ein Katalog von Anforderungen an die Beobachtbarkeit von SoCs. Ein wichtiges Kriterium ist hier die Vollständigkeit der Beobachtung und umfasst die Aktivitäten der CPU (ausgeführte Instruktionen, gelesene und geschriebene Daten, Verhalten des Caches, Ausführungszeiten), des Bussystems und von Umgebungsbedingungen. Weitere Kriterien sind die Echtzeitfähigkeit und die Kontinuität der Beobachtung sowie die gleichzeitige Durchführung verschiedener Beobachtungsaufgaben. Dabei soll es zu einer möglichst geringen Beeinflussung des SoCs kommen. Weitere wichtige Aspekt sind die Kosten der Lösung, die Universalität, die Skalierbarkeit sowie die Latenz der Verfügbarkeit der Beobachtungsergebnisse. Für viele Anwendungen, besonders in sicherheitskritischen Bereichen, muss zudem nachgewiesen werden, dass das Beobachtungsverfahren kein Fehlverhalten des SoCs bewirkt bzw. ein solches maskiert. Eine besondere Herausforderung stellen Multiprozessor‐SoCs (MPSoCs) dar, da hier die Kommunikation zwischen den einzelnen CPUs im Inneren des SoC stattfindet und entsprechend schwierig für einen externen Bobachter sichtbar zu machen ist. Der Stand der Technik zur Beobachtung von SoCs wird im Wesentlichen durch zwei Verfahren dargestellt. Bei der Software‐Instrumentierung wird zum funktionalen Programmcode zusätzlicher Code hinzugefügt, welcher zur Beobachtung des Programms dient. Diese Methode ist einfach und universell anwendbar, erfüllt aber die genannten Kriterien nur sehr eingeschränkt. Nachteilig ist hier der Ressourcenverbrauch im Falle des Verbleibs der Instrumentierung im fertigen Produkt. Wird die Instrumentierung nur temporär dem Code hinzugefügt, muss sichergestellt werden, dass das Beobachtungsergebnis auch für den finalen Code anwendbar ist – was besonders bei ressourcen‐abhängigen Integrationstests nur schwierig erfüllbar ist. Eine alternative Lösung stellt eine spezielle Hardware‐Unterstützung in SoCs („embedded Trace“) dar. Hier werden im SoC Zustandsinformationen (z.B. Taskwechsel, ausgeführte Instruktionen, Datentransfers) gesammelt und mittels Trace‐Nachrichten an den Beobachter übermittelt. Dabei stellt die Bandbreite, die zur Ausgabe der Trace‐Nachrichten vom SoC verfügbar ist, ein entscheidendes Nadelöhr dar ‐ im SoC sind viel mehr den Beobachter interessierende Informationen verfügbar als nach außen transferiert werden können. Damit haben beide dem gegenwärtige Stand der Technik entsprechende Beobachtungsverfahren eine Reihe von Einschränkungen, die sich besonders bei der Vollständigkeit der Beobachtung, der Flexibilität, der Kontinuität und der Unterstützung von MPSoCs zeigen. In dieser Arbeit wird nun ein neuer Ansatz vorgestellt, welcher gegenüber dem Stand der Technik in einigen Bereichen deutliche Verbesserungen bietet. Dabei werden die Trace‐Daten nicht vom zu beobachtenden SoC direkt, sondern aus einer parallel mitlaufenden Emulation gewonnen. Die Bandbreite der für die Synchronisation der Emulation erforderlichen Daten ist in vielen Fällen deutlich geringer als bei der Ausgabe von umfassenden Trace‐Nachrichten mittels „embedded Trace“‐Lösungen. Gleichzeitig ist eine vollständige, äußerst detaillierte Beobachtung der Vorgänge innerhalb des SoC möglich. Das neue Beobachtungsverfahren wurde mittels verschiedener FPGA-basierter Implementierungen evaluiert, hier konnte auch die Anwendbarkeit für MPSoCs gezeigt werden.