A compositional framework for hardware/software co-design

Cau, A., Hale, R., Dimitrov, J., Zedan, H., Moszkowski, B., Manjunathaiah, M. and Spivey, M. (2002) A compositional framework for hardware/software co-design. Design Automation for Embedded Systems, 6 (4). pp. 367-399. ISSN 1572-8080 doi: 10.1023/A:1016507527035

Abstract/Summary

We describe a compositional framework, together with its supporting toolset, for hardware/software co-design. Our framework is an integration of a formal approach within a traditional design flow. The formal approach is based on Interval Temporal Logic and its executable subset, Tempura. Refinement is the key element in our framework because it will derive from a single formal specification of the system the software and hardware parts of the implementation, while preserving all properties of the system specification. During refinement simulation is used to choose the appropriate refinement rules, which are applied automatically in the HOL system. The framework is illustrated with two case studies. The work presented is part of a UK collaborative research project between the Software Technology Research Laboratory at the De Montfort University and the Oxford University Computing Laboratory.