However, reuse of other standard components is not so common. Reuse of existing microprocessors is standard practice on large SoC devices, indeed many large reprogrammable (FPGA) devices have processors embedded on the silicon for this purpose. It is unlikely that the architect of a modern SoC device would begin a project with the statement “I need to control the intercommunication on my device using software I will start by designing a good microprocessor”. IP-XACT has been designed to address all these issues by providing a standardized data exchange format which has both the flexibility to represent multiple companies’ requirements and the rigor to allow information to be automatically extracted and used in flow automation and advanced verification. However, design reuse has been slow to provide the anticipated SoC design flow advances, primarily due to the lack of standardization of interfaces, processes, flows, automation, and verification quality. Few people dispute the need for increased design reuse when faced with increased complexity and challenging Time-To-Market pressures. THE VALUE OF IP-XACT Why is IP-XACT required? IP-XACT provides ease of system integration, verification, automation, and therefore a Time-To-Market (TTM) advantage. This is an important point when verifying the quality of an IP-XACT component as will be described in detail later in this paper. It is not a replacement for hardware description languages (HDL) such as VHDL and Verilog or Systems languages such as System-C, register description languages, embedded software or documentation it is complementary and coexisting, providing a central repository of key information. IP-XACT describes the interface to an IP, but not the functionality. IP-XACT is an industry-wide standard for providing not only hardware information, but also software views, file lists, protocol standardization plus extensibility to add additional design and flow information. The IP-XACT standard was initially contributed by Mentor Graphics and has continued to develop by contribution of an ever increasing list of member companies. The IP-XACT standard is managed by The SPIRIT Consortium, an industry association of leading companies including ARM, Cadence, LSI, Mentor Graphics, NXP, ST, Synopsys and Texas Instruments plus nine other contributing companies and over 50 other reviewing member companies. In this way, IP-XACT provides a mechanism by which design reuse can be made a practical reality. It describes electronic system designs and the interconnection of IP interfaces in a standard specification to provide IP suppliers, design integrators and Electronic Design Automation (EDA) vendors, with a common representation. What is IP-XACT? Essentially IP-XACT is an electronic data book a description of components and designs written in a standard data exchange format (XML), which is both human readable and machine processable. Experience shows that applying the concepts presented in this paper as part of a design reuse and verification strategy will ease adoption and increase the success rate of major System-on-Chip (SoC) projects I. ![]() ![]() ![]() This paper describes the benefits of adopting IP-XACT and highlights the importance of producing high quality component XML as the foundation of a successful IP-XACT reuse strategy. Paul Williams, Mentor Graphics Consulting, Europe Abstract : As the semiconductor industry increases take-up of IP-XACT standards to describe Intellectual Property (IP) this paper shares the experiences of NXP Semiconductors and Mentor Graphics, who have been using and developing this technology together for over five years. By Marc van Hintum, NXP Semiconductors, The Netherlands
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |