Epson 01 (2000-04)

Title: Methodologies and design issues associated with the
co-design of software, firmware and hardware functionality
in silicon in SoC design
Research Engineer: Tony Kirkham
Sponsor: Epson Scotland Design Centre
Academic Supervision: Dr Tughrul Arslan, University of Edinburgh

Semiconductor vendors such as Epson are increasingly expected by mobile phone suppliers to provide them with core functionality for standarised baseband mobile components, e.g., speech coder, as part of their product offering (either silicon or IP blocks). Such integrated devices often incorporate DSP cores, a microcontroller core, logic functions and analog functions in the same device (system-on-chip).

The project will investigate the development of methodologies and design issues associated with the co-design of software, firmware (for the DSP microcontroller) and hardware functionality in silicon for SoC design, starting with a review of best practice from the published literature. The target application area is mobile phones (especially 3rd generation systems) and portable audio products such as MP3 players. Particular attention will be given to issues such as joint software, firmware and hardware testability, optimised chip layout for minimum power dissipation and the integration of co-design methodologies (issues such as object-oriented co-design) for re-use.

The project will be carried out using leading-edge combined algorithm and hardware design tools such as the Synopsys tools, Cossap and Design Compiler, as the research platform, and research work will be based on Epson process technology and SDC baseband development projects.

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