Model-integrated tools for the design of dynamically reconfigurable systems

Several classes of modern applications demand very high performance from sy stems with minimal resources. These applications must also be flexible to o perate in a rapidly changing environment. Achieving high performance from l imited resources demands application-specific architectures, while flexibil ity requires architectural adaptation capabilities. Reconfigurable computin g devices promise to meet both needs. While these devices are currently ava ilable, the issue of how to design these systems is unresolved. This paper describes an environment for design capture, analysis and synthesis of dyna mically adaptive computing applications. The representation methodology is captured in a Domain-Specific, Model-Integrated Computing framework. Formal analysis tools are integrated into the design flow to analyze the design s pace to produce a constrained set of solutions. HW/SW Co-simulations verify the function of the system prior to implementation. Finally, a set of hard ware and software subsystems are synthesized to implement the multi-modal, dynamically adaptive application. The application executes under a runtime environment, which supports common execution semantics across software and hardware. An application example is presented.