RTL Simulation of High Performance Dynamic Reconfiguration: A Video Processing Case Study

Abstract

Dynamically Reconfigurable Systems (DRS) allow hardware logic to be partially reconfigured while the rest of the design continues to operate. For example, the Auto Vision driver assistance system swaps video processing engines when the driving conditions change. However, the architectural flexibility of DRS also introduces challenges for verifying system functionality. Using Auto Vision as a case study, this paper studies the use of a recent RTL simulation library, ReSim, to perform functional verification of DRS designs. Compared with the conventional Virtual Multiplexing approach, ReSim more accurately simulates the Auto Vision system before, during and after reconfigurations. With trivial development and simulation overhead, ReSim assisted in detecting significantly more bugs than found using Virtual Multiplexing. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first significant effort towards functionally verifying a cutting-edge, complex, real-world DRS application.