VIRTUAL PROTOTYPE SYSTEMS

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INTRODUCTION

Today's supersystems
In some respects, the term "super system" may be misleading, because it may cause some readers to imagine a physically large implementation. Actually, a supersystem is often realized on a single system-on-chip (SoC) device.
For example, a modern cell phone may contain an SoC comprising several general-purpose central processing units (CPUs), and one or two digital signal processing (DSP) units, controlling 40 or more peripheral devices providing control functions, multimedia functions, 2D and 3D graphics functions, crypto functions, camera interfaces, and a variety of other interfaces such as WiFi and USB.
The DSPs with associated accelerator devices provide a variety of base band processing, filtering, modulation, and decoding functions. Having multiple cores allows a broader range of processing traffic to be handled in real-time, which is a critical requirement for many of today's applications.



The Virtual System Prototype Revolution

A VaST virtual system prototype represents a revolutionary change for target software development — it removes the need to develop code on host workstations and test by downloading to target single- board computers for execution and debugging. Software is developed on a virtual prototype of the target system rather than on a host system. Code is then executed and debugged as it is written — not months later when the silicon is available.
The VaST virtual system prototype simulates fast enough that it is no longer necessary to use either host-based or hardware-based (ICE, emulation or prototype) development approaches. Since the entire simulation is cycle-accurate, it can be used to develop both software with strict real-time requirements and software that interacts intimately with the hardware. A VaST virtual prototype is a PC-based surrogate for the actual chip or system into which the software will eventually be integrated.


Optimal Embedded Systems Design Increases Profit Margins

Using VaST embedded systems design tools and models to create an optimal architecture for a SoC can make a big difference to the profit margin for the chip and the system built around it. For example, a cache memory that is unnecessarily large results in wasted silicon area and thus increased cost, while a cache memory that is too small results in lower performance than optimum for the application. VaST's virtual system prototypes enable architectural exploration that produces quantitative results on aspects such as power consumption, performance and cost.
In most consumer products, aspects of the system performance are visible to the end purchaser as capabilities of the product, such as the rate at which a digital camera can take photos or the ability of an MP4 player to play music continuously under all circumstances. The VaST suite of systems engineering tools and models allows developers to evaluate