Modeling heterogeneous SoCs with SystemC: a digital/MEMS case study

Designers of SoCs with non-digital components, such as analog or MEMS devices, can currently use high-level system design languages, such as SystemC, to model only the digital parts of a system. This is a significant limitation, making it difficult to perform key system design tasks — design space exploration, hardware-software co-design and system verification — at an early stage. This paper describes lumped analytical models of a class of complex non-digital devices — MEMS microhotplates — and presents techniques to integrate them into a SystemC simulation of a heterogeneous System-on-a-Chip (SoC). This approach makes the MEMS component behavior visible to a full-system simulation at higher levels, enabling realistic system design and testing. The contributions made in this work include the first SystemC models of a MEMS-based SoC, the first modeling of MEMS thermal behavior in SystemC, and a detailed case study of the application of these techniques to a real system. In add...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: CASES
• Authors: Ankush Varma, Muhammad Yaqub Afridi, Akin Akturk, Paul Klein, Allen R. Hefner, Bruce L. Jacob
• Keywords: CASES 2006, Design, Mems, Systemc Simulation