Correct and non-defensive glue design using abstract models

Current hardware design practice often relies on integration of components, some of which may be IP or legacy blocks. While integration eases design by allowing modularization and component reuse, it is still done in a mostly ad hoc manner. Designers work with descriptions of components that are either informal or incomplete (e.g., documents in English, structural but non-behavioral specifications in IP-XACT) or too low-level (e.g., HDL code), and have little to no automatic support for stitching the components together. Providing such support is the glue design problem. This paper addresses this problem using a model-based approach. The key idea is to use high-level models, such as dataflow graphs, that enable efficient automated analysis. The analysis can be used to derive performance properties of the system (e.g., component compatibility, throughput, etc.), optimize resource usage (e.g., buffer sizes), and even synthesize low-level code (e.g., control logic). However, these models are only abstractions of the real system, and often omit critical information. As a result, the analysis outcomes may be defensive (e.g., buffers that are too big) or even incorrect (e.g., buffers that are too small). The paper examines these situations and proposes a correct and non-defensive design methodology that employs the right models to explore accurate performance and resource trade-offs.