Marco Caldari

System-level power analysis methodology applied to the AMBA AHB bus [SoC applications]

The specification on power consumption of a digital system is extremely important due to the growing relevance of the market of portable devices and must be taken into account since the early phases of a complex system-on-chip design. In this paper, some guidelines are provided for the integration of the information on power consumption in the executable model of parameterized cores, with particular attention to the AMBA AHB bus. This gives important information for the analysis and choice between different design architectures driven by functional, timing and power constraints of the system-on-chip.

Instruction based power consumption estimation methodology

The paper presents a new model of the dynamic power dissipated by a circuit described at gate or behavioural level. A procedure is presented for an accurate estimate of the power dissipated during the execution of each instruction by using gate level or behavioural level digital simulations. The information on power consumption stored in a look-up table can be used in a system level simulation. The methodology has been applied to the design of an I/sup 2/C bus driver.

Performance analysis of different arbitration algorithms of the AMBA AHB bus

Bus performances are extremely important in a platform-based design. System Level analysis of bus performances gives important information for the analysis and choice between different architectures driven by functional, timing and power constraints of the System-on-Chip. This paper presents the effect of different arbitration algorithms and bus usage methodologies on the bus AMBA AHB performances in terms of effective throughput and power dissipation. SystemC and VHDL models have been developed and simulations have been performed.

SystemC Modeling of a Bluetooth Transceiver: Dynamic Management of Packet Type in a Noisy Channel

High level design methodologies are needed to overcome the complexity of system on chip design. In this paper, the SystemC environment has been used to design a Bluetooth transceiver. The high simulation speed allowed a high level performance analysis of the IP developed and the definition of an algorithm for selecting the best packet type in the presence of channel noise.

Physical modelling in SystemC-WMS and real time synthesis of electric guitar effects

Physical models are widely used for sound synthesis and transformation. This paper presents a general methodology for the integration of physical modelling of sounds in a system level design environment using SystemC. The methodology has been applied in particular for physical modelling of electric guitar effects. The model developed has been used for a real time synthesis of a tunable electric guitar effects generator on a PC useful for the optimization of the algorithm for a future hardware implementation and integration in a DSP architecture for sound synthesis.

Power analysis methodology and library in SystemC

Power dissipation has become one of the main constraints during the design of complex integrated circuits in the recent years, due to the steady increasing of integration level and operating clock frequency. Power consumption is a major design issue and thus it requires the availability of effective tools for power estimation and optimization. Moreover, it is known that power analysis and optimization during the early design phases, starting from the system level, can lead to large power savings. In this paper we present Power-Kernel, an efficient object-oriented library for SystemC 2.0, which allows the easy introduction of a power model in the executable specification of a complex design.

Object-oriented design methodology applied to the modeling of USB device and bus interface layers

Important changes are taking place in the EDA world as System-on-Chip (SoC) IC products create new market segments. These ICs have multiple complex cores that need to be integrated in order to allow the chip to perform the complete system function. At the moment chip-processing equipment is capable of producing technology that is far more advanced than what the design tools can do. This design gap can be reduced by the use of new tools and methodologies based on high levels of electronic systems abstraction. Object-oriented techniques and languages have been proven to significantly increase engineering efficiency in hardware development. Many benefits are expected from their introduction into electronic modeling. Among them are better support for model reusability and flexibility, more efficient system modeling, and more possibilities in design space exploration and prototyping. In this paper we present an object-oriented methodology used to create the models of USB device and bus interface protocol layers.

Dynamic power management in an AMBA-based battery-powered system

Power consumption has become one of the most important aspects in electronic digital design, due to increasing system performances and complexity in terms of clock speeds and very high function integration capability. The designer should consider this aspect from the beginning of a new project in order to explore and find the best mapping of system parameters like throughput, area, and power consumption. In this paper, we present the VHDL design of an architecture for dynamic power management applied to a battery-powered system based on the AMBA bus. The purpose is to easily evaluate and explore different possible system implementations driven by power and performance metrics.

Real Time Implementation of Fuzz-Face Electric Guitar Effect

Physical models are widely used for sound synthesis and transformation. This chapter presents a general methodology for the integration of physical modeling of sounds in a system level design environment using SystemC. The methodology has been applied in particular for physical modeling of electric guitar effects, derived from the well known fuzz-face circuit. The implementation in real time systems of physical models requires very high performance processors and dedicated hardware. The implementation on low cost embedded systems implies a further simplification of the algorithms. This paper presents the implementation of electric guitar effects in an embedded system board based on the ARM7 processor.

Extending systemC to analog modelling and simulation

This paper proposes at methodology for the extension of SystemC to mixed signal systems. An RF transceiver has been used to test the accuracy and stability of the algorithm proposed. Finally a simulation of a complex mixed-signal fuzzy controller is used to show the speed up achievable with a high level description of the analog block with respect to SPICE simulation.