M3-SCoPE: Performance Modeling of Multi-Processor Embedded Systems for Fast Design Space Exploration - Multi-objective Design Space Exploration of Multiprocessor SoC Architectures - page 25

Use Case/Simulator Provider

XML
System
Descr.

SystemC
Compon.
Models

Exploration
Architect

Design Space
Exploration
Tool

XML
System
Config.

Human
Computer
Interaction

SCoPE
Simulator

XML
System
Metrics

Fig. 2.2 Integration of the M3-SCoPE Simulator in the exploration flow. The system designer
provides the configurable system description and the codes for all the system components. Then,
DSE tool starts selecting configurations and receiving performance estimations from M3-SCoPE

“Configuration” file. An XML output file has been defined to return the simulation
results. The external DSE explorer indicates the simulator which is the configuration
to be analyzed each time by generating the corresponding “Configuration” file.
The simulation tool interprets the file, builds the system model and performs the
simulation. This means that no user interaction or model recompiling is required
once the exploration process starts.
The tool generates an output file, when the simulation finishes. This file contains
the values of the metrics obtained during the simulation. The output information is
used by the DSE exploration architect to perform the search of the best solutions
applying the RSM techniques.

2.2.1 Configurable XML System Descriptions

The XML System Description file includes information about the HW components,
the HW architecture, and the SW tasks. A simple XML format has been developed to
easily describe highly configurable platforms. The language guarantees fast model
creation and efficient system simulation.
A simple example of an XML description using this language is shown in Fig. 2.3 .
To keep it simple, no configurable options have been added. The example proposes
a system with a processor and a memory connected to a bus. A standard “hello
world” application has been selected to execute in the processor. To describe a
system with several platform architecture options and its configuration possibilities
three XML mechanisms are provided by M3-SCoPE. All three mechanisms can be
used simultaneously to describe highly configurable systems.