HARDWARE SOFTWARE CODESIGN FROM THE RASSP PERSPECTIVE/

Hardware/Software Codesign refers to the simultaneous consideration of hardware and software within a system design. Hardware/Software Codes ign is the co-development and co-verification of hardware and software through the use of simulation and/or emulation. The RASSP program, wi th its emphasis on high performance signal processing systems, has a p articular perspective on Hardware/Software Codesign which is presented in this paper. However, many of the RASSP methods and tools can be ap plied more generally in the larger environment of embedded systems. Th is paper describes a generic Hardware/Software Codesign process, discu sses tools and techniques used in the different phases of that process , and provides examples of efforts on these phases. In particular, it describes Hardware/Software Codesign as defined by RASSP, the Lockheed Martin ATL approach to Hardware/Software Codesign, and Hardware/Softw are Codesign tools developed by the Research Triangle Institute. This paper uses the RASSP SAR system benchmark as an example of Hardware/So ftware Codesign, and presents issues and designs for this system that were developed by Lockheed Martin ATL and RTI using Hardware/Software Codesign.