In recent years, the use of multiprocessor systems has become increasingly common. Even in the embedded domain, the development of platforms based on multiprocessor systems or the porting of legacy single-core applications are frequent needs. However, such designs are often complicated, as embedded systems are characterized by numerous non-functional requirements and a tight hardware/software integration. This work proposes a methodology for the development and validation of an embedded multiprocessor system. Specifically, the proposed method assumes the use of a portable, open source API to support the parallelization and the possibility of prototyping the system on a field-programmable gate array. On this basis, the proposed flow allows an early exploration of the hardware configuration space, a preliminary estimate of performance, and the rapid development of a system able to satisfy the design specifications. An accurate assessment of the actual performance of the system is then enforced by the use of an hardware-based profiling subsystem. The proposed design flow is described, and a version specifically designed for LEON3 processor is presented and validated. The application of the proposed methodology in a real case of industrial study is then presented and analyzed.
['Vittoriano Muttillo', 'Giacomo Valente', 'Fabio Federici', 'Luigi Pomante', 'Marco Faccio', 'Carlo Tieri', 'Serenella Ferri']
A design methodology for soft-core platforms on FPGA with SMP Linux, OpenMP support, and distributed hardware profiling system