Standard-Compliant Parallel SystemC Simulation of Loosely-Timed Transaction Level Models

To face the growing complexity of System-on-Chips (SoCs) and their tight time-to-market constraints, Virtual Prototyping (VP) tools based on SystemC/TLM must get faster while keeping accuracy. However, the Accellera SystemC reference implementation remains sequential and cannot leverage the multiple...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Busnot, Gabriel, Sassolas, Tanguy, Ventroux, Nicolas, Moy, Matthieu
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Analytical models
Instruments
Kernel
Monitoring
Virtual prototyping
Workstations
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:To face the growing complexity of System-on-Chips (SoCs) and their tight time-to-market constraints, Virtual Prototyping (VP) tools based on SystemC/TLM must get faster while keeping accuracy. However, the Accellera SystemC reference implementation remains sequential and cannot leverage the multiple cores of modern workstations. In this paper, we present a new implementation of a parallel and standard-compliant SystemC kernel, reaching unprecedented performances. By coupling a parallel SystemC kernel and memory access monitoring, we are able to keep SystemC atomic thread evaluation while leveraging the available host cores. Evaluations show a ×19 speed-up compared to the Accellera SystemC kernel using 33 host cores reaching speeds above 2000 Million simulated Instructions Per Second (MIPS).
ISSN:2153-697X
DOI:10.1109/ASP-DAC47756.2020.9045568