Abstract
We describe a platform-based design methodology for system-on-a-chip (SOC). A commercially available chip consisting of an embedded 32-bit RISC CPU core and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) module is used to implement applications that require both a program running on the CPU and hardware acceleration performed by the FPGA. The methodology consists of flow and tools for hardware/software partitioning, automatically synthesizing hardware accelerator, interface generation, software design/compilation, integrated hardware/software co-simulation, and whole system verification. We also present a case study of implementing an image decoder in a hardware/software co-design fashion on the platform using the described methodology. Computational intensive part of the application is methodologically identified and implemented as an AMBA compliant silicon intellectual property and successfully integrated with the software program running on the RISC CPU core. Experimental results show that the platform-based methodology is indeed effective for IP development/verification and fast prototyping.