Simulation/Co-Simulation Alternatives for Multi-Domain, Multi- Level, Multi-Language Design of Smart Sensor: The SMAC Methodology
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Abstract
Smart Systems represent a broad class of intelligent, miniaturized systems
incorporating functionalities like sensing, actuation and control. Their heterogeneity in
terms of domains requires handling different levels of abstraction and different
communication and synchronization styles, together with different languages and
frameworks. This heavily impacts simulation. Directly simulating in a single
environment such a degree of heterogeneity is impossible. On the other hand, cosimulation
may lead to integration errors and to a loss in terms of accuracy due to the
conjunct adoption of heterogeneous domains. Nonetheless, simulation is crucial in
the design and verification loop, as well as to respect budget constraints.
This work proposes the SMAC design flow for smart systems. It provides a
formalization of the typical abstraction levels and design domains of a smart system.
The proposed taxonomy allows identifying a precise role in the design flow for the
different simulation and co-simulation scenarios. This will highlight the impact of
heterogeneous and homogeneous models of computation on simulation
performance.
Finally, this works proposes a methodology to move from a co-simulated
heterogeneity to a C++ simulatable homogeneous representation of the entire smart
system, whose effectiveness is proven on a complex industrial case study