HARDWARE-SOFTWARE COSYNTHESIS FOR DIGITAL-SYSTEMS

As system design grows increasingly complex, the use of predesigned components, such as general-purpose microprocessors, can simplify synthesized hardware. While the problems in designing systems that contain processors and application-specific integrated circuit chips are not new, computer-aided synthesis of such heterogeneous or mixed systems poses unique challenges. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of synthesizing heterogeneous systems by using timing constraints to delegate tasks between hardware and software so that performance requirements can be met.