Parallel and distributed simulation of networked multi-core systems

The development of complex networked multi-core systems, like compute nodes in the Internet-of-Things, requires new simulation and design concepts. In this paper we present an environment for the asynchronous simulation of networked multi-core systems, based on SystemC. Combined with the open-source machine emulator and virtualizer QEMU, a virtual network is created. The compute nodes act similar to recent Systems-on-Chip from Xilinx and Altera. By combining an ARM processing system with programmable logic, a high flexibility is provided. We exemplary simulate these systems by extending QEMU, following its device model abstraction qdev. The resulting network benefits from the execution on different host systems. It is highly scalable and designed for the development of complex networked multi-core systems. For the non-distributed execution on one processor we implemented an alternative communication method which takes only 2/3 of the time for networked simulation.