On AOP techniques for C++-based HW/SW component implementation

The increasing complexity of embedded system applications is leading to a convergence between hardware and software development. In this paper we aim to close the gap between hardware and software implementation by proposing guidelines for handling both domains in a unified fashion. We leverage on aspect-oriented programming (AOP) concepts to provide unified C++ descriptions that can be both compiled to software or synthesized to dedicated hardware using high-level synthesis tools. Our results show that our strategy leads to reusable components at the cost of a small overhead when compared to software-only and hardware-only C++ implementations.