Methodology and tools for system analysis of parallel pipelines

The pipelines of processor farms PPF design pattern intended for continuous ow embedded systems has been augmented by a software toolkit at the system analysis level Other relevant approaches to system support employing tools are reviewed The PPF structure supports incrementally scalable systems which can meet real time speci cations An outline of the design and development cycle of PPF systems follows The paper considers in detail the prediction component of the cycle A graphical simulation tool for modelling asynchronous pipeline behaviour uses a Java based visual display An extended example showing how the performance tool supports PPF design principles concludes the paper