Date: 7th Jun 2011
Mentor's HL synthesis tool now supports
TLM
Mentor Graphics Corporation has announced that its Catapult
C high-level synthesis tool now supports the synthesis of
transaction level models (TLMs).
With the new TLM synthesis flow, abstract TLM models are
converted to pin-accurate, protocol-specific, SystemC models,
and from there, synthesized to RTL code. Conversely, existing
synthesizable descriptions can be converted to TLMs. The
flow supports standard off-the-shelf bus interfaces, including
the ARM AMBA bus family, as well as custom protocols.
Mentor says this new capability provides an essential link
between virtual prototyping and HLS-based hardware implementation.
Traditionally, these two activities have been separated
by incompatible abstraction requirements: virtual prototyping
relying on fast and abstract TLM interfaces, and HLS requiring
pin-accurate synthesizable models, adds Mentor.
"Eighty-seven percent of the respondents in a recent
survey said it was either mandatory or highly desirable
to have high-level synthesis tools integrated with ESL flows,"
said Simon Bloch, vice president and general manager, Design
and Synthesis division at Mentor Graphics. "TLM synthesis
leverages Mentor's strong technology 'know how' in both
high-level synthesis with Catapult C and virtual prototyping
with the Vista platform as a pivotal starting point for
new levels of ESL flow integration."
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