Modeling for Synthesis with System#

Abstract

While Electronic Design Automation made the shift towards system design and high-level design methods keep on emerging, there is hardly any open framework which allows researchers to quickly prototype novel synthesis algorithms. We present System#, an open source system level design framework based on C#. System# tries to bridge the productivity gap by covering modeling, simulation, code transformations and VHDL code generation in a single extensible platform. We explain how common modeling principles, such as component-based design, the separation of communication and computation, concurrent behavior and time are realized in System#. The implementation of an appropriate simulator kernel is discussed. We demonstrate the potential of code transformations by giving application examples: converting a cycle-accurate sequential specification to an explicit synthesizable finite state machine representation and IP-based design. We conclude that System# is an appropriate research and integration platform which has the potential to add value to the research community.