Microprocessor Modeling and Simulation with SystemC

Complexity of advanced chip designs is driving the progress of ESL methodology. SystemC, with its mature C++ language environment and the availability of public tools, is quickly becoming the de facto ESL language. In this paper, we demonstrate the methodology by microprocessor modeling with systemC. Various abstraction levels and the corresponding purposes are addressed. The advantage of ESL methodology is shown by the experimental results of simulation speed. With a 18 times to over 500 times simulation speed-up, the methodology has proved useful in modeling, verification, and software development.