Large-scale, parallel embedded applications: a hardware design model for software engineers†

Parallel servers are becoming an important sector in the embedded systems marketplace. If software engineers are to implement the multi-algorithm applications that these servers support, then educators should provide clear design routes which inculcate system-level thinking. Pipelined Processor Farms (PPF) is one such topdown design strategy. The contemporary hardware diversity within both processorand instruction-level parallellism requires incorporation of a coprocessor model at the node or sub-system layer. Two suitable software-based approaches are reviewed: one which maintains the traditional aspects of hardware modeling, SystemC, and the other, Handel-C, which introduces silicon compilation to the CAD laboratory.