Solutions for Hardware/Software co-design

1. May 9, 2016 1
Zvika Rozenshein
EngineeringIQ

2. May 9, 2016 2
Introduction/Embedded Systems
• Uses a computer to perform certain functions
• Conceived with specific application in mind
• examples: dash controller in automobiles, remote
controller for robots, answering machines, etc.
• IoT, Control type of applications
• Design consists of hardware components and
software programs that execute on the hardware
platforms.
• Hardware-Software Co-Design ?

3. May 9, 2016 3
Why Co-Design?
• Reduce time to market
• Achieve better design
• Explore alternative designs
• Good design can be found by balancing the HW/SW
• To meet strict design constraint
• power, size, timing, and performance trade-offs
• safety and reliability
• system on chip

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Concurrent design
Traditional design
HW SW
start
Designed by independent
groups of experts
Concurrent (Co-Design)
start
HW SW
Designed by Same group of
experts with cooperation

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Basic Design Systems
• Must-have components:
– Schematic entry
– Spice simulation for passive and active components
– Most systems also include PCB design capabilities
• Popular products:

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Common Capabilities
Schematic Capture Measurement & Analysis
Digital Logic
Basic Electricity
Analog Electronics
Simulation
Connectivity
3D Models
PCB Layout Visualization & MCAD
PCB Design
Constraint Driven Layout
Design for Manufacture
End-to-End Engineering

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What about Embedded ?
Schematic Capture Measurement & Analysis
Simulation
Connectivity
3D Models
PCB Layout Visualization & MCAD
Traditional SPICE Simulators don’t
support micro-controllers !

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Possible Solutions
• Use a Bus Functional Model (BFM) of the MCU
– Encapsulates the bus functionality of a processor
• Can execute bus transactions on the processor bus (cycle accurate)
• Cannot execute any instructions
– BFM is an abstract model of processor that can be used to
verify how a processor interacts with its peripherals
SWSW HWHWHWSW
C/C++ BFM

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Possible Solutions
• Use an Instruction-Set Simulator (ISS)
– Processor model capable of simulating the execution of
instructions
– Different types of ISS for different purposes
• Usage 1: Verification of applications written in assembly-code
– For fastest speed: translate target assembly instructions into host processor
instructions
» Is not cycle-accurate. Specially for pipelined and superscalar
architectures

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Possible Solutions
• Use an Instruction-Set Simulator (ISS)
– Usage 2: Verification of timing and interface between
system components
• Used in conjunction with a BFM
• ISS should be timing-accurate in this usage
– ISS often works as an emulator
– For performance estimation usage, ISS is to provide accurate
cycle-counting

11. May 9, 2016 11
Possible Solutions
• What is a Carbon Model?
– A high performance software object
– Generated by proprietary compiler
from synthesizable RTL design files
– Contains cycle-accurate & register-
accurate description of hardware
design
• Using a Carbon Model
– Linked with gcc (or Microsoft VC++)
– Libcarbon5.so & carbon_capi.h are part of
installation on Linux
– Simulator communicates with hardware
model through sockets using carbon_capi.h
• However – execution
speed is a major problem!

12. May 9, 2016 12
Proteus VSM is the Answer
Schematic with MCU Firmware Design
Measurement & Analysis Debugging & Diagnostics
Mixed Mode
ProSPICE Simulation

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+ Strong PCB Design Capability
10-15 db Gain, ~4k Cut-off Frequency
To analyze the circuit we’ll want to :
 Provide an input signal.
 Plot the output waveform.
 Change component values to tune the filter.
Simple Filter Breakout Board

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Supported MCU Families
 Freescale MC68HC11 family.
 Atmel® ATTINY, ATMEGA and Cortex™-M3 families. Includes full Arduino support !
 NXP ARM® LPC2000 family, ARM7TDMI, Cortex™-M0 and Cortex™-M3 models.
 Microchip Technologies™ PIC10, PIC12, PIC16, PIC18, PIC24 & dsPIC33 families.
 Generic 8051, 8052, NXP (P87C51xxx) and Atmel® (AT89Cxxx) families.
Proteus VSM Supports:
 Texas Instruments™ MSP430® Family, Cortex™-M3/LM3S and PICCOLO™ TMS320.

15. May 9, 2016 15
Microcontroller Models
Proteus VSM Microcontroller Models:
 Instruction Set Simulated  All pin and I/O operations
 All Timers in all modes  UART/USART/EUSART
 Interrupts and priorities (inc. VIC)  SPI / SSI in all modes
 PSP or PMP in all modes  MSSP in all modes
 ADC inc. Voltage Ref. pins  CCP/ECCP in all modes
 I2C/TWI as master/slave  Analog Comparator in all modes
 External Memory  Real Time Clock in all modes
 Memory Accelerator Module  PWM Module in all modes
 USB Device module  CTMU, CLC, PPS and others.

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The Peripheral Models
 Thousands of TTL, CMOS,
passives etc.
 Interactive models for POTs, switches, ...
 Ethernet Controller Models  OptoElectronic Models (LED, LCD, TFT, …)
 Motor Control Models  Memory Models
 Temperature Control Models  Real Time Clocks and Timekeeping
 I2C / SPI Protocol peripherals  1-Wire Protocol peripheral models
 RS232/RS485/RS422 Protocol  ADC / DAC Converter Models
 Pulse Width Control Models  Power Management Models
 Laplace Primitive Models  Many, Many more…

17. May 9, 2016 17
Examples (1)
Arduino AVR writing bitmap to TFT Display

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Examples (2)

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Examples (3)

20. May 9, 2016 20
Visual Designer Module –
Firmware design with Flow-Chart!
Example - PIR Night Light
10uF1k
A2
2
1
4
3
Grove Luminance Sensor
2,3
1
APDS-9002
Grove LED
LED-GREEN
330
D3
2
1
4
3
A0
2
1
4
3
21.0
VO
1
VCC
3
GND
2
GP2Y0A21YK0F
Grove Infrared Proximity Sensor

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Example - TFT Display & SD Card
IM0
IM1
IM2
IM3
RES
CS
WR/D/C
RD
TE
SDI/SDA
SDO
HSYNC
VSYNC
DOTCLK
DE
EXTC
D0
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8
D9
D10
D11
D12
D13
D14
D15
D16
D17
D/C/SCL
LEDK
LEDA
LCD1
ILI9341
IO9
IO10
SCK
MOSI
MISO
IL9341 TFT Display
SDCard
CS
DI
DO
CLK
SD1
SD
SCK
MISO
MOSI
IO4
SD Card

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References
 Dr. Rabi Mahapatra - Professor in the Department of Computer Science and
Engineering at Texas A&M.
 Labcenter Electronics Ltd:
• www.labcenter.com
• sales@labcenter.com
 EngineeringIQ Israel – ‫הנדסית‬ ‫עצה‬
• Zvika Rozenshein ‫רוזנשיין‬ ‫צביקה‬
• www.eng-iq.com
• support@eng-iq.com
• (M) +972-52-6132275