Many point tools exist to optimize particular aspects of embedded systems. However, an overall design space exploration framework is needed to combine all the decisions into a global search space, and a common interface to the optimization and evaluation tools. The MULTICUBE project focuses on the definition of an automatic multi-objective Design Space Exploration (DSE) framework to be used to tune the System-on-Chip architecture for the target application evaluating a set of metrics (such as energy, performance and bandwidth) for the next generation embedded multimedia systems.
This general objective is two-fold. On the one hand, the MULTICUBE project will define an automatic multi-objective DSE framework to find design alternatives that best meet system constraints and cost criteria, strongly dependent on the target application, but also to restrict the search space to crucial parameters to enable an efficient exploration. In the developed DSE framework, a set of heuristic optimization algorithms must be defined to reduce the overall exploration time by computing an approximated Pareto set of configurations with respect to the selected figures of merit.
Once the approximated Pareto set has been built, the designer can quickly select the best system configuration satisfying the constraints.
On the other, the MULTICUBE project will define a run-time DSE framework based on the applications of the results of the static multi-objective design exploration to optimize the run-time allocation and scheduling of different application tasks. The design exploration flow results in a Pareto-optimal set of design alternatives with different speed, energy, memory and communication bandwidth parameters. This information can be used at runtime by the operation system to make an informed decision about how the resources should be distributed over different tasks running on the multi-processor system on-chip. This resource distribution can not be performed during the design exploration itself, since it depends on which tasks are active at a particular point in time. To support both the static and the run-time design exploration flow described above, the MULTICUBE project will develop a multi-level system specification and modeling framework to provide static and dynamic evaluation of the system-level metrics. One of the main characteristics of this framework consists of supporting the DSE at different abstraction levels by providing a common tool interface composed of several layers that are connected through standardized interfaces. The design methodology will be implemented in a set of open-source and proprietary Electronic Design Automation tools to guarantee a large exploitation of the results of the MULTICUBE project in the embedded system design community. The overall goal is to support the competitiveness of European industries by optimizing embedded hardware/software systems while reducing the design time and costs.