Microprocessor cores used for SOC design are the direct descendents of Intel’s original 4004 microprocessor. Just as packaged microprocessor ICs vary widely in their attributes, so do microprocessors packaged as IP cores. However, SOC designers still compare and select processor cores the way they previously compared and selected packaged microprocessor ICs. The big problem with this selection method is that it assumes that the laws of the microprocessor universe have remained unchanged for decades. This assumption is no longer valid. Processor cores for SOC designs can be far more plastic than microprocessor ICs for board-level system designs. Shaping these cores for specific applications produces much better processor efficiency and much lower system clock rates. Together, Tensilica’s Xtensa and Diamond processor cores constitute a family of software-compatible microprocessors covering an extremely wide performance range from simple control processors, to DSPs, to 3-way superscalar processors. Yet all of these processors use the same software-development tools so that programmers familiar with one processor in the family can easily switch to another. This book emphasizes a processor-centric MPSOC (multiple-processor SOC) design style shaped by the realities of the 21st-century and nanometer silicon. It advocates the assignment of tasks to firmware-controlled processors whenever possible to maximize SOC flexibility, cut power dissipation, reduce the size and number of hand-built logic blocks, shrink the associated verification effort, and minimize the overall design risk. · An essential, no-nonsense guide to the design of 21st-century mega-gate SOCs using nanometer silicon. · Discusses today's key issues affecting SOC design, based on author's decades of personal experience in developing large digital systems as a design engineer while working at Hewlett-Packard's Desktop Computer Division and at EDA workstation pioneer Cadnetix, and covering such topics as an award-winning technology journalist and editor-in-chief for EDN magazine and the Microprocessor Report. · Explores conventionally accepted boundaries and perceived limits of processor-based system design and then explodes these artificial constraints through a fresh outlook on and discussion of the special abilities of processor cores designed specifically for SOC design. · Thorough exploration of the evolution of processors and processor cores used for ASIC and SOC design with a look at where the industry has come from, and where it's going. · Easy-to-understand explanations of the capabilities of configurable and extensible processor cores through a detailed examination of Tensilica's configurable, extensible Xtensa processor core and six pre-configured Diamond cores. · The most comprehensive assessment available of the practical aspects of configuring and using multiple processor cores to achieve very difficult and ambitious SOC price, performance, and power design goals.

Engineering the Complex SOC The first unified hardware/software guide to processor-centric SOC design Processor-centric approaches enable SOC designers to complete far larger projects in far less time. Engineering the Complex SOCis a comprehensive, example-driven guide to creating designs with configurable, extensible processors. Drawing upon Tensilica’s Xtensa architecture and TIE language, Dr. Chris Rowen systematically illuminates the issues, opportunities, and challenges of processor-centric design. Rowen introduces a radically new design methodology, then covers its essential techniques: processor configuration, extension, hardware/software co-generation, multiple processor partitioning/communication, and more. Coverage includes: Why extensible processors are necessary: shortcomings of current design methods Comparing extensible processors to traditional processors and hardwired logic Extensible processor architecture and mechanisms of processor extensibility Latency, throughput, coordination of parallel functions, hardware interconnect options, management of design complexity, and other issues Multiple-processor SOC architecture for embedded systems Task design from the viewpoints of software andhardware developers Advanced techniques: implementing complex state machines, task-to-task synchronization, power optimization, and more Toward a “sea of processors”: Long-term trends in SOC design and semiconductor technology For all architects, hardware engineers, software designers, and SOC program managers involved with complex SOC design; and for all managers investing in SOC designs, platforms, processors, or expertise. PRENTICE HALL Professional Technical Reference Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 www.phptr.com

Considered a standard industry resource, the Embedded Systems Handbook provided researchers and technicians with the authoritative information needed to launch a wealth of diverse applications, including those in automotive electronics, industrial automated systems, and building automation and control. Now a new resource is required to report on current developments and provide a technical reference for those looking to move the field forward yet again. Divided into two volumes to accommodate this growth, the Embedded Systems Handbook, Second Edition presents a comprehensive view on this area of computer engineering with a currently appropriate emphasis on developments in networking and applications. Those experts directly involved in the creation and evolution of the ideas and technologies presented offer tutorials, research surveys, and technology overviews that explore cutting-edge developments and deployments and identify potential trends. This first self-contained volume of the handbook, Embedded Systems Design and Verification, is divided into three sections. It begins with a brief introduction to embedded systems design and verification. It then provides a comprehensive overview of embedded processors and various aspects of system-on-chip and FPGA, as well as solutions to design challenges. The final section explores power-aware embedded computing, design issues specific to secure embedded systems, and web services for embedded devices. Those interested in taking their work with embedded systems to the network level should complete their study with the second volume: Network Embedded Systems.

During the past few years there has been an dramatic upsurge in research and development, implementations of new technologies, and deployments of actual solutions and technologies in the diverse application areas of embedded systems. These areas include automotive electronics, industrial automated systems, and building automation and control. Comprising 48 chapters and the contributions of 74 leading experts from industry and academia, the Embedded Systems Handbook, Second Edition presents a comprehensive view of embedded systems: their design, verification, networking, and applications. The contributors, directly involved in the creation and evolution of the ideas and technologies presented, offer tutorials, research surveys, and technology overviews, exploring new developments, deployments, and trends. To accommodate the tremendous growth in the field, the handbook is now divided into two volumes. New in This Edition: Processors for embedded systems Processor-centric architecture description languages Networked embedded systems in the automotive and industrial automation fields Wireless embedded systems Embedded Systems Design and Verification Volume I of the handbook is divided into three sections. It begins with a brief introduction to embedded systems design and verification. The book then provides a comprehensive overview of embedded processors and various aspects of system-on-chip and FPGA, as well as solutions to design challenges. The final section explores power-aware embedded computing, design issues specific to secure embedded systems, and web services for embedded devices. Networked Embedded Systems Volume II focuses on selected application areas of networked embedded systems. It covers automotive field, industrial automation, building automation, and wireless sensor networks. This volume highlights implementations in fast-evolving areas which have not received proper coverage in other publications. Reflecting the unique functional requirements of different application areas, the contributors discuss inter-node communication aspects in the context of specific applications of networked embedded systems.

This book arises from experience the authors have gained from years of work as industry practitioners in the field of Electronic System Level design (ESL). At the heart of all things related to Electronic Design Automation (EDA), the core issue is one of models: what are the models used for, what should the models contain, and how should they be written and distributed. Issues such as interoperability and tool transportability become central factors that may decide which ones are successful and those that cannot get sufficient traction in the industry to survive. Through a set of real examples taken from recent industry experience, this book will distill the state of the art in terms of System-Level Design models and provide practical guidance to readers that can be put into use. This book is an invaluable tool that will aid readers in their own designs, reduce risk in development projects, expand the scope of design projects, and improve developmental processes and project planning.

Visit the authors' companion site! http://www.electronicsystemlevel.com/ - Includes interactive forum with the authors! Electronic System Level (ESL) design has mainstreamed – it is now an established approach at most of the world’s leading system-on-chip (SoC) design companies and is being used increasingly in system design. From its genesis as an algorithm modeling methodology with ‘no links to implementation’, ESL is evolving into a set of complementary methodologies that enable embedded system design, verification and debug through to the hardware and software implementation of custom SoC, system-on-FPGA, system-on-board, and entire multi-board systems. This book arises from experience the authors have gained from years of work as industry practitioners in the Electronic System Level design area; they have seen "SLD" or "ESL" go through many stages and false starts, and have observed that the shift in design methodologies to ESL is finally occurring. This is partly because of ESL technologies themselves are stabilizing on a useful set of languages being standardized (SystemC is the most notable), and use models are being identified that are beginning to get real adoption. ESL DESIGN & VERIFICATION offers a true prescriptive guide to ESL that reviews its past and outlines the best practices of today. Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS ESL? CHAPTER 2: TAXONOMY AND DEFINITIONS FOR THE ELECTRONIC SYSTEM LEVEL CHAPTER 3: EVOLUTION OF ESL DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 4: WHAT ARE THE ENABLERS OF ESL? CHAPTER 5: ESL FLOW CHAPTER 6: SPECIFICATIONS AND MODELING CHAPTER 7: PRE-PARTITIONING ANALYSIS CHAPTER 8: PARTITIONING CHAPTER 9: POST-PARTITIONING ANALYSIS AND DEBUG CHAPTER 10: POST-PARTITIONING VERIFICATION CHAPTER 11: HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION CHAPTER 12: SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION CHAPTER 13: USE OF ESL FOR IMPLEMENTATION VERIFICATION CHAPTER 14: RESEARCH, EMERGING AND FUTURE PROSPECTS APPENDIX: LIST OF ACRONYMS * Provides broad, comprehensive coverage not available in any other such book * Massive global appeal with an internationally recognised author team * Crammed full of state of the art content from notable industry experts

The steady and unabated increase in the capacity of silicon has brought the semiconductor industry to a watershed challenge. Now a single chip can integrate a radio transceiver, a network interface, multimedia functions, all the "glue" needed to hold it together as well as a design that allows the hardware and software to be reconfigured for future applications. Such complex heterogeneous systems demand a different design methodology. A consortium of industrial and government labs have created a new language and a new design methodology to support this effort. Rosetta permits designers to specify requirements and constraints independent of their low level implementation and to integrate the designs of domains as distinct as digital and analog electronics, and the mechanical, optical, fluidic and thermal subsystems with which they interact. In this book, Perry Alexander, one of the developers of Rosetta, provides a tutorial introduction to the language and the system-level design methodology it was designed to support. * The first commercially published book on this system-level design language * Teaches you all you need to know on how to specify, define, and generate models in Rosetta * A presentation of complete case studies analyzing design trade-offs for power consumption, security requirements in a networking environment, and constraints for hardware/software co-design