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Abstract : |
We describe key features of a simulation environment, MORPHSIM, that allows us to quickly evaluate the effect of architectural changes on application runtimes. We discuss the effect of runtime interpretation, and describe how the MORPHSIM simulator is able to achieve significant speedup in architectural evaluation by minimizing the use of interpretation over a programdriven simulation. This environment is currently being used to design a customizable system architecture built using reconfigurable hardware blocks [1]. We present early simulation results that highlight the utility of the simulation environment in system design. 1 Extended Summary Recent availability of processor, memory, DSP, and special-purpose `cores ' have made it possible to assemble complex systems using these cores and using reprogrammable glue logic on a single chip or substrate [2, 3]. High-speed system-level simulation is a necessary prerequisite for correct and efficient design of these highly integrated systems. Since these systems use general-purpose computing elements, correct system functionality can often be tested by running existing target, |
