A synthesis, test and debug environment for rapid prototyping of DSP designs

Recently, considerable progress has been made in the design of digital signal processing (DSP) integrated circuits and systems. In order to address the need for rapid and economical production and testing of hardware prototypes, a hardware and software system called DIODES is being developed for the rapid prototyping, testing and debugging of DSP designs. DIODES will allow the user to design a DSP system, have it partitioned into predefined function blocks, have it assembled using advanced packing technology and then thoroughly test and debug the design both stand-alone and in a larger electronic system environment. This paper gives an overview of the whole system focussing particularly on the debugging hardware and software support environment. The algorithmic description is translated by the DIODES synthesis software into a structural specification suitable for High-Density Interconnect (HDI) fabrication. The synthesis process includes the insertion of test capabilities into the hardware to allow for debugging the design. The rapid turnaround of HDI fabrication means that the user can have a prototype DIODES module in hand ready for testing within at most a day or two, and at moderate cost