Full system simulation with QEMU: An approach to multi-view 3D GPU design

Hardware-and-software full system co-verification and co-simulation in the early stage of SoC development, i.e., before HDL code synthesis, is usually a big challenge for design engineers. In this paper, we propose a QEMU-based full system simulation framework to tackle the problem faced with the design of an embedded multi-view 3D GPU (graphic processing unit). Through the framework, we are able to extensively explore the multi-view GPU architecture, and at the same time software designers can develop and debug the associated device drivers and graphics applications by simulating the GPU design in full system operation. This approach greatly improves the ESL design process and shortens the development time for the complex multi-view GPU system.