Combining different models of computation for cosimulation of heterogeneous systems

During the last few years the problem of designing mixed hardware/software systems has attracted significant attention due to increasing system complexities. The heterogeneous design approach, combining small, specialized models of computation, achieves generality and it is also suitable for automatic synthesis and formal verification. This paper describes a hardware/software cosimulation environment for embedded systems based on digital signal processors (TMS320C40) and FP-GAs. Due to the heterogeneous nature ol an embedded system we are using a multilingual (multiparadigm) approach for the simulation of the entire system. We define a generic, tool independent and open interface concept. Using this cosimulation interface, an efficient verification of the design is possible.