A statechart based HW/SW codesign system

Abstract

The Codesign Finite State Machine (CFSM) formal model provides a suitable approach for the description of hardware/software systems. The POLIS tool from Berkeley implements the CFSM methodology but currently relies on the textually based Esterel specification language as a high level for the description of individual CFSMs. The designer must then use the Ptolemy simulator to interconnect the CFSM network and perform co-simulation. This paper describes work in progress in developing a system which instead aims to use StatemateTM, a statechart based tool for seamless specification and co-simulation of the entire CFSM network, whilst using the POLIS tool for 'C', VHDL code generation and performance estimation. This technique should give the clear advantages of using a graphical specification language together with a uniform co-simulation framework.