Soft IP Customisation Model Based on Metaprogramming Techniques

We propose a layered Soft IP Customisation (SIPC) model for specifying and implementing system-level soft IP design processes such as wrapping and customisation. The SIPC model has three layers: (1) Specification Layer for specification of a customisation process using UML class diagrams, (2) Generalisation Layer for representation of a customisation process using the metaprogramming techniques, and (3) Generation Layer for generation of the customised soft IP instances from metaspecifications. UML allows us to specify customisation of soft IPs at a high level of abstraction. Metaprogramming allows us to manage variability in a domain, develop generic domain components, and describe generation of customised component instances. The usage of the SIPC model eases and accelerates reuse, adaptation and integration of the pre-designed soft IPs into new hardware designs.