Configurable multiprocessor platform with RTOS for distributed execution of UML 2.0 designed applications

This paper presents the design and full prototype implementation of a configurable multiprocessor platform that supports distributed execution of applications described in UML 2.0. The platform is comprised of multiple Altera Nios II softcore processors and custom hardware accelerators connected by the Heterogeneous IP Block Interconnection (HIBI) communication architecture. Each processor has a local copy of eCos real-time operating system for the scheduling of multiple application threads. The mapping of a UML application into the proposed platform is presented by distributing a WLAN medium access control protocol onto multiple CPUs. The experiments performed on FPGA show that our approach raises system design to a new level. To our knowledge, this is thefirst real implementation combining a high-level design flow with a synthesizable platform.