A fast heuristic scheduling algorithm for periodic ConcurrenC models

Embedded system design usually starts from an executable specification model described in a C-based System Level Description Language (SLDL), such as SystemC or SpecC. In this paper, we identify a subset of well-defined C-based design models, called periodic ConcurrenC models, that can be statically scheduled, resulting in significant higher simulation and execution speed. We propose a novel heuristic scheduling algorithm that not only is faster than classic matrix-based synchronous dataflow (SDF) scheduling approaches, but also reduces the model execution time by an order of magnitude over the default discrete event simulation.