Systematic transaction level modeling of embedded systems with SystemC

The paper gives an overview of a transaction level modeling (TLM) design flow for straightforward embedded system design with SystemC. The goal is to develop systematically both the HW and SW application-specific components of an embedded system using the TLM approach, thus allowing for fast communication architecture exploration, rapid prototyping and early embedded SW development. To this end, we specify a lightweight transaction-based communication protocol, SHIP (SystemC high-level interface protocol), and present a methodology for automatic mapping of the communication part of a system to a given architecture, including HW/SW interfaces.