Enabling Hardware/Software Codesign Using Cynlib

As chip capacity increases and system-on-a-chip becomes a reality, hardware and system design are being driven in new directions. The quality of results and the time to market for the overall system{both hardware and software{are now becoming the driving metrics of success for a project. In this environment, creating system level descriptions using C++ and class libraries is emerging as the way to move from a purely software description to a realizable system that contains both hardware and software components: on such class library is Cynlib from CynApps Inc. In this paper, we propose a design methodology based on iterative re nement that enables a purely software description to be transformed into a realizable RTL in Cynlib. We show that remaining in a uni ed environment allows the designer to create and model interfaces that exchange data between hardware and software, thereby enabling hardware/software codesign.