An algebraic hardware/software partitioning algorithm

1999

2000

Hardware and software co-design is a design technique which delivers computer systems comprising hardware and software components. A critical phase of co-design process is to decompose a program into hardware and software. This paper proposes an algebraic partitioning method whose correctness is verified in the algebra of programs. We introduce the program analysis phase before program partitioning and develop a collection of syntax-based splitting rules,

The Journal of Visualization and Computer Animation, 1998

2001

ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems, 2003

This paper presents an in-depth study of several system partitioning procedures. It is based on the appropriate formulation of a general system model, being therefore independent of either the particular co-design problem or the specific partitioning procedure. The techniques under study are a knowledge-based system and three classical circuit partitioning algorithms (Simulated Annealing, Kernighan&Lin and Hierarchical Clustering). The former has been entirely proposed by the authors in previous works while the later have been properly extended to deal with system level issues. We will show how the way the problem is solved biases the results obtained, regarding both quality and convergence rate. Consequently it is extremely important to choose the most suitable technique for the particular co-design problem that is being confronted.

One of the key problems in hardware software codesign is hardware software partitioning. This paper describes a new approach to hardware software partitioning using integer programming IP. The advantage of using IP is that optimal results are calculated for a chosen objective function. The partitioning approach w orks fully automatic and supports multi-processor systems, interfacing and hardware sharing. In contrast to other approaches where special estimators are used, we use compilation and synthesis tools for cost estimation. The increased time for calculating values for the cost metrics is compensated by an improved quality of the values. Therefore, fewer iteration steps for partitioningare needed. The paper presents an algorithm using integer programming for solving the hardware software partitioning problem leading to promising results.

Formal Methods in System Design, 2004

A crucial point in hardware/software co-design is how to perform the partitioning of a system into hardware and software components. Although several algorithms to partitioning have been recently proposed, the formal verification of the partitioning procedure is an emergent research topic. In this paper we present an innovative and automatic approach to partitioning with emphasis on correctness. The formalism used is occam and the algebraic laws that define its semantics. In the proposed approach, the partitioning procedure is characterised as a program transformation task and the partitioned system is derived from the original description of the system by applying transformation rules, all of them proved from the basic laws of occam. A tool has been developed to allow the partitioning to be carried out automatically. The entire approach is illustrated here through a small case study.

Design Automation for Embedded Systems, 1997

One of the key problems in hardware/software codesign is hardware/software partitioning. This paper describes a new approach to hardware/software partitioning using integer programming (IP). The advantage of using IP is that optimal results are calculated for a ...

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 1999