Grimm, Christoph

Jantsch, Axel

Shukla, Sandeep

Villar Bonet, Eugenio, 1957-

EURASIP Journal on Embedded Systems

English

UCrea

Hindawi Publishing CorporationEURASIP Journal on Embedded SystemsVolume 2008, Article ID 243890, 2 pagesdoi:10.1155/2008/243890EditorialC-Based Design of Heterogeneous Embedded SystemsChristoph Grimm,1 Axel Jantsch,2 Sandeep Shukla,3 and Eugenio Villar41 Vienna University of Technology, Vienna 1040, Australia2 Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden3 Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA4 University Cantabria, 39005 Santander, SpainCorrespondence should be addressed to Christoph Grimm, grimm@ict.tuwien.ac.atReceived 14 July 2008; Accepted 14 July 2008Copyright © 2008 Christoph Grimm et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.With the proliferation of all kinds of electronic devices andour increased dependences on electronics in every aspectof our lives from handheld PDAs, cell phones, medical andprosthetic devices to automotives and fly-by-wire airplanes,embedded systems have changed dramatically. Such changeshave given rise to increasingly complex applications onresource constrained embedded platforms, and new innova-tive system architectures. On the application side, embeddedsystems are not any more only invisible computers thatdo one dedicated task, but also ones which sense, observe,decide, act, and are networked with their environment(ambient intelligence).Obviously, the extended role of embedded systems is notwithout impact on the hardware and system architecture.Embedded architectures have evolved from a low-end pro-cessor with application-specific coprocessors to networkedmultiprocessor systems including sensors, analog/mixed-signal, and RF components, giving rise to a high degreeof heterogeneity which in turn requires sophisticated andheterogeneous modeling techniques. Because these systemsare within the space of the physical world requiring inter-action with analog physical phenomena, and communicatethrough radio-frequency (RF) communication links, thenewer architectures are aptly referred to as “embeddedanalog/mixed-signal systems” (E-AMSs). This nomenclaturecaptures the new complexity and heterogeneity that arisefrom the fact that HW/SW systems and analog, mixed-signal,RF blocks are so functionally interwoven.To handle this growing complexity and heterogeneity,new methods and tools are required that are able to handlesuch intricate and closely coupled heterogeneity betweensoftware, hardware, and other (e.g., analog/RF) components.Even though the standard hardware description languagessuch as Verilog and VHDL have been extended over the yearsto model analog and mixed signal designs, the complexityensuing from the close interaction of hardware, software,and mixed signal domains, and the multiple models ofcomputation has necessitated newer system level languagesand surrounding methodologies. One pragmatic approachchampioned by researchers and the industry has been touse existing software languages such as C and C++ forthe design of the overall systems due to the dominant roleof software. This helps tremendously in hardware/softwarecosimulation in the early stages of design, and also allowsone to dynamically experiment with hardware/softwarepartitioning for better performance. Among these C-basedsystem level languages, SystemC has evolved as an industrystandard for design of HW/SW systems—but with limitedability to deal with complex issues that arise when designingE-AMS systems. Hence, more research and development oftools and standards are required in this field.This special issue on “C-based design of embeddedsystems” of the EURASIP journal on Embedded Systemsincludes 10 articles that will certainly give the readersan overview on the ongoing research towards a designtechnology that integrates all kind of components for therealization of future “ambient intelligence” systems.The first two articles offer a deeper insight into theproblems and also potential solutions: the first paper “Poweraware simulation framework for wireless sensor networksand nodes” by Glaser et al. deals with new methods tooptimize power consumption in energy self-sufficient sensornetworks, based on SystemC and OMNET. The secondpaper “Modeling field bus communications in mixed signal2 EURASIP Journal on Embedded SystemsReceiverSerialinterfaceModulator/demod.DSPOscillator ClockgeneratorMicro-controllerHostprocessorMemoryPowermanagement To allblocksAudioDSPImagingDSPADCTransmitterDACRFdetectorTemp.sensorHigh speedserialinterface Antennafront-endCalibration & controlFigure 1: Example of an embedded analog/mixed-signal architecture: communication system (from: “An Introduction to Modeling EmbeddedAnalog/Mixed-Signal Systems using SystemC AMS Extensions”; http://www.systemc.org/).embedded systems” by Denoulet et al. uses the upcomingOSCI SystemC AMS extensions to deal with heterogeneity.Although AMS extensions still are changing, this case studyalso gives a valuable insight into capabilities of this upcomingstandard.A second group of contributions focuses on new toolsand languages. The third paper “System-on-chip environ-ment: A SpecC-based framework for heterogeneous MPSoCdesign” by Doemer et al. describes a design framework andmethodology for heterogeneous MPSoCs based on SpecC,while the fourth paper “Novel methodology for functionalmodeling and simulation of wireless embedded systems” byMorales et al. addresses modeling and simulation of wirelessembedded systems by bringing together the functionalmodels of the baseband algorithms written in C languagewith the circuit descriptions at behavioral level in Verilog orVerilog-AMS in a single kernel environment, most notablyfrom the viewpoint of the (semiconductor) industry. Thefifth paper “Bridging MoCs in SystemC specifications ofheterogeneous systems” by Haase et al., also in the contextof the upcoming SystemC AMS extensions, describes somemeans to support the design refinement process targeted bythe AMS extensions.At a higher level, the abstract modeling, IP integration,and synthesis are of crucial importance which are tackled bythe sixth paper entitled “Combining UML2 application andSystemC platform modeling for performance evaluation ofreal-time embedded systems” by Kreku et al., and the seventhpaper “Automated integration of dedicated hardwired IPcores in heterogeneous MPSoCs designed with ESPAM”by Nikolov et al., dealing with automated integration ofIP cores in heterogeneous MPSoCs. High-level synthesisand its impact on the design of heterogeneous embeddedsystems are evaluated in the eighth article with the title“Quantitative evaluation of the impact of high-level synthesison heterogeneous embedded systems design” by Hammamiet al.Last but not least: validation. Validation of E-AMS ismay be the most challenging issue. Approaches to improveverification coverage range from model-driven validation inthe ninth article “Model-driven validation of SystemC designs”by Patel et al. to simulators that allow designers to integrateaccurate behavior of analog and RF behavior into an overallsystem simulation in the tenth contribution with the title“System level modeling of RF IC in SystemC-WMS” by Orcioniet al.We sincerely hope that this special issue will provide thereaders with a good understanding of ongoing research anda sense of the challenges on the road ahead.Christoph GrimmAxel JantschSandeep ShuklaEugenio Villar

C-based design of heterogeneous embedded systems

Christoph  Grimm

Axel Jantsch

Sandeep Shukla

Eugenio Villar

Crossref

C-Based Design of Heterogeneous Embedded Systems

Springer - Publisher Connector

Hindawi Publishing Corporation
EURASIP Journal on Embedded Systems
Volume 2008, Article ID 243890, 2 pages
doi:10.1155/2008/243890
Editorial
C-Based Design of Heterogeneous Embedded Systems
Christoph Grimm,1 Axel Jantsch,2 Sandeep Shukla,3 and Eugenio Villar4
1 Vienna University of Technology, Vienna 1040, Australia
2 Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
3 Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
4 University Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain
Correspondence should be addressed to Christoph Grimm, grimm@ict.tuwien.ac.at
Received 14 July 2008; Accepted 14 July 2008
Copyright © 2008 Christoph Grimm et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
With the proliferation of all kinds of electronic devices and
our increased dependences on electronics in every aspect
of our lives from handheld PDAs, cell phones, medical and
prosthetic devices to automotives and fly-by-wire airplanes,
embedded systems have changed dramatically. Such changes
have given rise to increasingly complex applications on
resource constrained embedded platforms, and new innova-
tive system architectures. On the application side, embedded
systems are not any more only invisible computers that
do one dedicated task, but also ones which sense, observe,
decide, act, and are networked with their environment
(ambient intelligence).
Obviously, the extended role of embedded systems is not
without impact on the hardware and system architecture.
Embedded architectures have evolved from a low-end pro-
cessor with application-specific coprocessors to networked
multiprocessor systems including sensors, analog/mixed-
signal, and RF components, giving rise to a high degree
of heterogeneity which in turn requires sophisticated and
heterogeneous modeling techniques. Because these systems
are within the space of the physical world requiring inter-
action with analog physical phenomena, and communicate
through radio-frequency (RF) communication links, the
newer architectures are aptly referred to as “embedded
analog/mixed-signal systems” (E-AMSs). This nomenclature
captures the new complexity and heterogeneity that arise
from the fact that HW/SW systems and analog, mixed-signal,
RF blocks are so functionally interwoven.
To handle this growing complexity and heterogeneity,
new methods and tools are required that are able to handle
such intricate and closely coupled heterogeneity between
software, hardware, and other (e.g., analog/RF) components.
Even though the standard hardware description languages
such as Verilog and VHDL have been extended over the years
to model analog and mixed signal designs, the complexity
ensuing from the close interaction of hardware, software,
and mixed signal domains, and the multiple models of
computation has necessitated newer system level languages
and surrounding methodologies. One pragmatic approach
championed by researchers and the industry has been to
use existing software languages such as C and C++ for
the design of the overall systems due to the dominant role
of software. This helps tremendously in hardware/software
cosimulation in the early stages of design, and also allows
one to dynamically experiment with hardware/software
partitioning for better performance. Among these C-based
system level languages, SystemC has evolved as an industry
standard for design of HW/SW systems—but with limited
ability to deal with complex issues that arise when designing
E-AMS systems. Hence, more research and development of
tools and standards are required in this field.
This special issue on “C-based design of embedded
systems” of the EURASIP journal on Embedded Systems
includes 10 articles that will certainly give the readers
an overview on the ongoing research towards a design
technology that integrates all kind of components for the
realization of future “ambient intelligence” systems.
The first two articles oﬀer a deeper insight into the
problems and also potential solutions: the first paper “Power
aware simulation framework for wireless sensor networks
and nodes” by Glaser et al. deals with new methods to
optimize power consumption in energy self-suﬃcient sensor
networks, based on SystemC and OMNET. The second
paper “Modeling field bus communications in mixed signal
2 EURASIP Journal on Embedded Systems
Receiver
Serial
interface
Modulator/
demod.
DSP
Oscillator Clock
generator
Micro-
controller
Host
processor
Memory
Power
management 
To all
blocks
Audio
DSP
Imaging
DSP
ADC
Transmitter
DAC
RF
detector
Temp.
sensor
High speed
serial
interface 
Antenna
front-end
Calibration & control
Figure 1: Example of an embedded analog/mixed-signal architecture: communication system (from: “An Introduction to Modeling Embedded
Analog/Mixed-Signal Systems using SystemC AMS Extensions”; http://www.systemc.org/).
embedded systems” by Denoulet et al. uses the upcoming
OSCI SystemC AMS extensions to deal with heterogeneity.
Although AMS extensions still are changing, this case study
also gives a valuable insight into capabilities of this upcoming
standard.
A second group of contributions focuses on new tools
and languages. The third paper “System-on-chip environ-
ment: A SpecC-based framework for heterogeneous MPSoC
design” by Doemer et al. describes a design framework and
methodology for heterogeneous MPSoCs based on SpecC,
while the fourth paper “Novel methodology for functional
modeling and simulation of wireless embedded systems” by
Morales et al. addresses modeling and simulation of wireless
embedded systems by bringing together the functional
models of the baseband algorithms written in C language
with the circuit descriptions at behavioral level in Verilog or
Verilog-AMS in a single kernel environment, most notably
from the viewpoint of the (semiconductor) industry. The
fifth paper “Bridging MoCs in SystemC specifications of
heterogeneous systems” by Haase et al., also in the context
of the upcoming SystemC AMS extensions, describes some
means to support the design refinement process targeted by
the AMS extensions.
At a higher level, the abstract modeling, IP integration,
and synthesis are of crucial importance which are tackled by
the sixth paper entitled “Combining UML2 application and
SystemC platform modeling for performance evaluation of
real-time embedded systems” by Kreku et al., and the seventh
paper “Automated integration of dedicated hardwired IP
cores in heterogeneous MPSoCs designed with ESPAM”
by Nikolov et al., dealing with automated integration of
IP cores in heterogeneous MPSoCs. High-level synthesis
and its impact on the design of heterogeneous embedded
systems are evaluated in the eighth article with the title
“Quantitative evaluation of the impact of high-level synthesis
on heterogeneous embedded systems design” by Hammami
et al.
Last but not least: validation. Validation of E-AMS is
may be the most challenging issue. Approaches to improve
verification coverage range from model-driven validation in
the ninth article “Model-driven validation of SystemC designs”
by Patel et al. to simulators that allow designers to integrate
accurate behavior of analog and RF behavior into an overall
system simulation in the tenth contribution with the title
“System level modeling of RF IC in SystemC-WMS” by Orcioni
et al.
We sincerely hope that this special issue will provide the
readers with a good understanding of ongoing research and
a sense of the challenges on the road ahead.
Christoph Grimm
Axel Jantsch
Sandeep Shukla
Eugenio Villar


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