CoDesign with the MCSE methodology

In this paper, we describe a system design process based on the MCSE methodology useful for CoDesign. The conceptual model on which MCSE is based considers 2 views for a system: the functional model allows designers to describe their solutions in an application-oriented view of the system, the executive model depicts the hardware components or necessary resources, and interconnections between them. CoDesign is shown as an enhancement of the implementation specification step of MCSE. One main problem is then system partitioning for which we propose an interactive procedure based on performance and cost evaluations. The software part of the solution is generated from the functional description level. The hardware part is synthesized from a VHDL behavioral description which is also generated from the subset of the functional description allocated to the hardware. The links between hardware and software are also synthesized. Such a procedure and associated tools lead to efficiently obtain system prototypes in an incremental manner. An example is given to illustrate the benefit of the proposed method, the significance of the functional level and the specific part of a system development for which CoDesign is appropriate