Non-Cyclic Design Space Exploration for ASIPs — Compiler-Centered Microprocessor Design (CoMet)

Abstract

The CoMet approach on designing application specific instruction set processors (ASIPs) is targeting a non-cyclic design space exploration (DSE). The design process is driven by a step by step refinement of intermediate codes, known from compiler backends. In every step, the intermediate code can be simulated and profiled. Based on that profiling information, it can be further transformed to an optimized or refined intermediate code. The whole transformation process is implemented in a GUI-based design tool, whose main component is a configurable simulator for intermediate codes. It will be shown how the configurable intermediate code simulator is used and how the intermediate code transformation and the VHDL generation of the ASIP model will work in the CoMet tool.