legaSCi: Legacy SystemC Model Integration into Parallel Systemc Simulators

Abstract

Virtual prototyping of parallel and embedded systems increases insight into existing computer systems. It further allows to explore properties of new systems already during their specification phase. Virtual prototypes of such systems benefit from parallel simulation techniques due to the increased simulation speed. One common problem full system simulator implementers face is the revision and integration of legacy models coded without thread-safety and deterministic behavior in mind. To lessen this burden, this paper presents a methodology to integrate unmodified SystemC legacy models into parallel SystemC simulators. Using the proposed technique, the embedded platform simulator of the EU FP7 project EURETILE, which inherited a number of legacy models from its predecessor project SHAPES, has been transformed into a parallel simulation platform, demonstrating speed-ups of up to 3.36 on four simulation host cores.