Codesign from cospecification

Describes an object-oriented codesign specification approach designed to eliminate the bias introduced from using more commonplace software or hardware specification languages. The goal is to investigate automated partitioning of behavior into hardware and software. The design methodology allows gradual, continuous repartitioning of codesign operations during design. For instance, designers might start with an all-software implementation and check the implementation´s functionality: they might then refine the implementation over time to a mixed hardware-software implementation. At the system level, the authors use an object-oriented approach to identify the basic objects and associated functions of a system. They divide them into three groups: hardware, software, and codesign . They represent the codesign group´s objects and functions using a prototype codesign specification language, Object-Oriented Functional Specifications (OOFS), which lets one describe system state in objects and write object methods as pure functions. Thus, the authors can describe complex systems without biasing the implementation toward hardware or software.<>