Fast Hardware-Software Co-simulation Using VHDL Models

We describe a technique for hardware-software co-simulation that is almost cycle-accurate, and does not require the use of interprocess communication nor a C language interface for the software components. Software is modeled by using behavioral VHDL constructs, annotated with timing information derived from basic block-level timing estimates. Hardware is also modeled in VHDL, and can be either pre-existing Intellectual Property or synthesized to RTL from a functional specification. Execution of the VHDL processes modeling software tasks is coordinated by a process emulating the target RTOS behavior. The effects of changing the hardware/software partition can be quickly estimated by changing a process parameter defining its target implementationand the processor on which it is running.