Object oriented development method for reconfigurable embedded systems

The authors present a novel method for developing reconfigurable systems targeted at embedded system applications. The paper shows how an existing object oriented design method (MOOSE) has been adapted to include reconfigurable hardware (FPGAs). Previous research on reconfigurable computing has concentrated on the efficient mapping of algorithms to FPGAs. It must be realised that reconfigurable hardware usually forms part of much larger embedded systems, which include other hardware components, memories, and processors executing significant software tasks. The paper represents a significant advance over current embedded system design methods in that it integrates the use of reconfigurable hardware components with a systematic design method for complete systems including both hardware and software. The development techniques are illustrated by a practical example. Although the enhanced methodology is applicable to some reconfigurable computing systems, further work is planned to extend our design technique to exploit the potential benefits of embedded systems which can be dynamically reconfigured at system run-time. The final objective is to produce an object oriented design methodology where system objects can be seamlessly implemented in either software or reconfigurable hardware