Partitioning and synthesis for hybrid architecture simulators

Pure software simulators are too slow to simulate modern complex computer architectures and systems. Hybrid software/hardware simulators have been proposed to accelerate architecture simulation. However, the design of the hardware portions and hardware/software interface of the simulator is time-consuming, making it difficult to modify and improve these simulators. We here describe the Simulation Partitioning Research Infrastructure (SPRI), an infrastructure which partitions the software architectural model under user guidance and automatically synthesizes hybrid simulators. We also present a case study using SPRI to investigate the performance limitations and bottlenecks of the generated hybrid simulators.