Top-down design using cycle based simulation: an MPEG A/V decoder example

This paper presents a discussion of a top-down VLSI design approach which involves system level performance modeling, block level cycle based simulation, RTL/VHDL simulation and gate level emulation. An MPEG-2 audio/video decoder design example illustrates the use of this top-down approach. Most of the discussion concentrates on the concept of block level cycle based (BLCB) simulation. HW/SW co-design also played an important role in this work and our approach towards such co-design is discussed as well.