A spectrum of MPSoC models for design space exploration and its use

Implementing on-chip multiprocessors is enabled by the use of deep submicron technologies and constitutes today a daunting task, due to the complexity of their design and verification. The development of such devices can be facilitated by the use of a carefully crafted set of models for each implementation step. This paper proposes the use of such a set of abstract models at several levels. These improve simulation speed and observability in one sense and level of detail and precision in the opposite sense. Initial development tasks such as software development and functionality specification refinement can evolve fast with very abstract models, while confidence in the final implementation can be achieved with lower level models. Our basic multi-processor system on a chip is configurable in several parameters, including number of processors, type of employed communication architecture and combination of abstraction levels used in the description of the distinct modules that compose the model.