Links

Current Public Projects

Current unannounced corporate users of Ptolemy II

Historical

Current

• Agilent (formerly Hewlett Packard) produces the Advanced Development Systems (ADS), which is based partly on Ptolemy Project software. The ADS is design software for analog, RF, and mixed-signal design, primarily targeted to wireless systems development.
  The website states that it "provides HP Ptolemy hybrid dataflow and time-domain design and simulation capability for design and verification of DSP algorithms with realistic RF and analog distortions DSP, analog and RF systems."
  The press release announcing the product mentions its roots in the Ptolemy project.

• Università degli Studi di Cassino has developed a general distributed optimization package called DistOpt that uses Ptolemy Classic.
  (PDF Slides from the 4/01 Ptolemy Miniconference)

• DDEMA:Data Driven Environment for Multiphysics Applications is a research Multidisciplinary Problem Solving Environment (MPSE) with emphasis on complex multiphysics applications. Large amounts of collected data in a-priori or real-time fashion are used to determine and form the appropriate behavioral model and its implementation to enable on-board or remote system behavior prediction for mission relevant decision support."
  DDEMA uses Ptolemy II both as a "Visual Programing Desighn Editor" for application-specific workflows and as and Agent/Services Management system.

• Giotto is middleware that offers a principled, tool-supported design methodology for implementing embedded control systems on platforms of possibly distributed sensors, actuators, CPUs, and networks. Giotto is based on the organizing principle that time-triggered task invocations together with time-triggered mode switches can form the abstract essence of programming real-time control systems. Giotto consists of a time-triggered programming language with a formal semantics, which provides an abstract programmer's model, as well as a compiler and a runtime library which can be targeted toward various platforms. Giotto supports the automation of the control systems design process by strictly separating platform-independent functionality and timing concerns from platform-dependent scheduling and communication issues. The time-triggered predictability of Giotto makes it particularly suitable for safety-critical applications with hard real-time constraints.

• Kepler: A System for Scientific Workflows, is a cross-project collaboration to develop open source tools for Scientific Workflows and is currently based on the Ptolemy II system for heterogeneous concurrent modeling and design.

• The Mescal project at UC Berkeley uses Ptolemy II as a software framework for their work in developing reusable architectural platforms that can be easily programmed to meet the requirements for a variety of applications.

• Mirabilis Design has developed VisualSim, which is built on top of Ptolemy II. VisualSim focuses on performance analysis and system architecture, rapid system modeling and dynmaic mapping (hardware/software tradeoff) methodology.
  See also the October 6, 2003 EE Times article about Mirabilis Design.

• MLDesigner "is an integrated platform for modelling and analyzing the architecture, function and performance of high level system designs - either as a standalone system or as a system operating in the context of larger systems and scenarios (i.e., missions)."
  MLDesigner can import Ptolemy Classic models.

• Developed at the Codesign and Parallel Processing Lab at Seoul National University, Korea, PeaCE (Ptolemy extension as Codesign Environment) is a codesign environment for rapid development of heterogeneous digital systems targeting from system-on-chip (SOC) design to distributed heterogeneous system design. The 'Ptolemy' of the PeaCE acronym refers to the well-known design tool developed at the Univ. of California at Berkeley, on top of which we're building a hardware-software codesign environment. It provides the design framework common to all system level design activities: specification, cosimulation, design space exploration, interactive partitioning, synthesis of SW, HW and their interface.

• Thales (formerly Thomson-CSF), has had many interactions with the Ptolemy group. Individuals from Thales worked on Caltrop actor language effort. Thales contributed the Ptolemy II/Java Native Interface and the single window interface to the Ptolemy II codebase.
  In the past, Thales has developed their own Ptolemy domain and performed a valuable evaluation of Ptolemy A summary of their work with Ptolemy is available. They have developed a multidimensional dataflow domain called ArrayOL which is based on the Ilog Views C++ graphical user-interface library. They have also performed an in-depth evaluation of Ptolemy II 0.4.1.

• RSoft Design Group is a merger of RSoft Inc. and Network Design Tools, Inc., a Telcordia Technologies spinout.
  RSoft Design Group has a product called LambdaSIM:
  "LambdaSIMcan rapidly simulate networks with thousands of components. The tool has undergone substantial validation as part of its use in the designing and understanding of the Multiwavelength Optical Network (MONET) project in Washington DC. LambdaSIM is built on a new Ptolemy-based dataflow simulation framework."
  OptSim is another RSoft Design Group project that Ptolemy II and Ptolemy Classic. A Demonstration version of OptSim is available. This version of OptSim is for use with the book "Lightwave Technology: Components and Devices" by Govind P. Agrawal.
• SP-Process spa has a product called Recito:

  Recito is a graphical modeling and process simulation platform. Developed in java only using Open Source technologies, it runs seamlessly on Windows, Linux, Mac OS and Solaris operating systems. With Recito the user can model, simulate and design concurrent real-time systems. Recito is based on Ptolemy II from which it inherits motor and actor libraries. Recito adds support of data access and manipulation (database, XML dataflow), reports creation, document management and model remote execution.

• Ptolemy II includes Ptplot, a 2D data plotter. Ptplot has a number of third party uses.

• "Recito is a graphical modeling and process simulation platform. Developed in java only using Open Source technologies, it runs seamlessly on Windows, Linux, Mac OS and Solaris operating systems.
  With Recito the user can model, simulate and design concurrent real-time systems. Recito is based on Ptolemy II from which it inherits motor and actor libraries. Recito adds support of data access and manipulation (database, XML dataflow), reports creation, document management and model remote execution."
  Recito includes support ODF and an Eclipse interface.
• Research In Motion, creators of the Blackberry handheld have contributed the Ptolemy II Matlab interface and worked on the Higher Order Components (HOC) in Ptolemy II. Developers at RIM have also worked on the Ptolemy II expression actor and provided the Ptolemy group with feedback on design and implementation.

• University of Pittsburgh Optical Computing Group and University of California at San Diego OptoElectronic Computing Group use Ptolemy Classic in designing and simulating Free Space Optoelectronic Information Processing Systems. See "Computer Aided Design and Simulation of Free Space Optoelectronic Information Processing Systems". Contact: steve at ee pitt edu

• The University of Texas at Austin uses Ptolemy in both research and education. Srikanth Gummadi is using Ptolemy to develop, simulate, and synthesize real-time constant modulus arrays for smart antennas. The arrays can be modelled completely in the Synchronous Dataflow model of computation. Ashutosh Kulkarni is using Ptolemy in benchmarking code generation methodologies. Biao Lu is using Ptolemy for modeling, simulating, and synthesizing heterogeneous sytems composed of neural network and signal/image processing subsystems by mixing dataflow models. Most (artificial) neural network and signal/image processing subsystems can be modeled using Synchronous Data. Some neural networks, such as Cellular Neural Networks, and some signal processing subsystems, such as timing recovery in modems, require Boolean Dataflow. Contact: Biao Lu. Prof. Brian Evans uses Ptolemy Classic as a laboratory for students in Embedded Software Systems to explore computational models, synthesis of embedded software, and heterogeneous system simulation. In addition, Professor Evans group has been doing
• Process Networks Research.
  Contact: Prof. Brian Evans.

Historical

• Agile Design provided support and customization of Ptolemy Software.

• BDTI, Berkeley Design Technology, Inc., in Fremont, CA, developed a prototype of a layer on top of the Ptolemy kernel called Ptolemy HSIM (Heterogeneous Simulation). Ptolemy HSIM served as a simulation backplane that allows Cadence's Signal Processing WorkSystem (SPW), Cadence's Bones, and Precedence's SimMatrix environments to cooperate during a simulation. SimMatrix is a synchronization mechanism for connecting 30 different VHDL and Verilog simulators together. The Ptolemy HSIM prototype was developed by BDTI for Lockheed-Martin, but there are no plans to release Ptolemy HSIM. For further information, contact Bernie Schaming at Lockheed-Martin.

• BU, Boston University, in Boston, MA, through its Knowledge-Based Signal Processing Group, has developed an environment called the Integrated Processing and Understanding of Signals (IPUS) that has been encapsulated into Ptolemy as a new domain. Ptolemy serves as the organizing framework and provides a computational engine through its other domains. IPUS can apply a family of knowledge-based techniques for iteratively refining a computation by dynamically selecting the algorithms to be applied to the data on the basis of results provided by previous algorithms. Thus, IPUS is a reasoning framework for signal reprocessing, incremental refinement, and signal understanding. Contact: Prof. S. Hamid Nawab

• Cadence has developed a new architecture for "full-system, mixed-level, and mixed-domain simulation" based in part on research from the Ptolemy Project. They leveraged Ptolemy's "system-level design framework that allows mixing of multiple models of computation". The first press release describes the CONVERGENCE Simulation Architecture and mentions its roots in the Ptolemy project. The computational model and scheduling algorithms in Cadence's Signal Processing WorkSystem (SPW) were heavily influenced by Ptolemy's Synchronous Dataflow domain and its scheduling algorithms.

• Dimensions in Quick Design Turnaround in Carlsbad, CA, has derived a new VHDL domain to serve as a front-end specification and VHDL code generation environment for behavioral modeling and synthesis of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits. They applied the same approach using Mentor Graphics DSP Station as a front end. They have also customized the edit parameters dialogue to support Tcl/Tk widgets. For example, instead of typing in YES or NO for a boolean parameter, you could click on a yes or no button. They have also modified the schematic entry to support connections that are made by name (reference) instead of by creating a wire. Contact: cesear at dqdt com or powell at dqdt com .

• Dresden University of Technology has developed WiNeS - Wireless Network System Simulator. This is based on Ptolemy Classic, although the research team has also been experimenting with Ptolemy II. Contact: rave at ifn et tu-dresden de

• FOKUS, Research Institute for Open Communication Systems, in Berlin, Germany, has developed a TCP Simulator using Ptolemy. sisalem at fokus gmd de Master's Thesis describes the work.

• Kepler is an effort to redevelop Ptolemy Classic by simplify the class structure and making other changes.

• Lyre Technologies offers the SignalMaster^TM family of rapid-prototyping DSP tools for embedded systems development. These tools support code generation for Motorola 56000 and Analog Devices SHARC families of DSP processors. The product includes a standalone box with a DSP, a general-purpose microprocessor, and a Xilinx FPGA, plus Ptolemy-based software for code generation.

• The UC Berkeley CAD group is using Ptolemy Classic as a framework for the POLIS system, which is a hardware/software codesign package, with application to automatic control. POLIS has formed the basis for the Felix design environment being marketed by Cadence Design Systems. Contact: polis-questions@ic.eecs.berkeley.edu

• Radioplan GmbH, Dresden offers software solutions for optimization of wireless information networks by dynamic simulations. In contrast to conventional planning tools, this software is able to include time-dependent algorithms that model dynamic aspects of a living radio network. This software is based on PtolemyII software infrastructure.

  Radioplan cooperates with Dresden University's WiNeS project, which is completely built on top of Ptolemy software. Contact: Jens.Voigt at radioplan com

• Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company is extending Ptolemy as part of an Algorithm Analysis and Mapping DARPA research project. This project includes retargettable design with fixed-point analysis and hardware synthesis targetted at FPGAs.

• Sanders' Rapid-Prototyping Group in Nashua, NH, has developed three different extensions to Ptolemy, as a prime contractor on the ARPA Rapid Prototyping of Application Specific Signal Processors (RASSP) Project.
  • They have written their own graphical front-end to Ptolemy that allows a user to sketch a target architecture and quickly map the stars in an SDF graph to the processors in the architecture. Extensions to the DE domain have been implemented to allow a performance-level model of the architecture to be simulated. They create a DE domain model representing the mapping of the algorithm to the architecture and use the Ptolemy kernel to simulate the performance. The product of the simulation is a Gantt chart showing the execution of stars and memory usage over time as well as estimates of certain other system level metrics (weight, size, power, reliability, etc.). This capability has been developed as a front-end architectural trade tool for the Sanders RASSP Program. Contact: SmithD at aticorp org
    A demonstration is available as a patch to Ptolemy 0.6.

  • They have developed their own custom code generation domain for FPGAs that uses the DE domain to partition the graph onto multiple FPGA and then automatically insert registers to compensate for pipelining. They apply perl scripts to the resulting ptcl code to generate the FPGA layout in a Xilinx format. Contact: Cory Myers

  • They have integrated Ptolemy into their RASSP Design Environment (RDE), a set of a fifteen CAD tools for hardware/software codesign and thirteen CAD tools for electrical and physical design for embedded signal processors. Reference: Rick Ong, Rob Costantino, and Rodger Philips, "ENvironment and Tools for an Intergrated RDE (ENTIRE)," Proc. ARPA Rapid Prototyping of Application-Specific Signal Processors Conference, pp. 115-121, Arlington, VA, July, 1995. Contact: rcostantino at sanders com

• SSS, Structured Software Systems, is working on automated securities trading systems based on Ptolemy Classic. SSS uses a derivative of the DE domain for both historical testing and live execution of trading systems. SSS has also made numerous small improvements in the Ptolemy infrastructure, most of which have found their way back to Berkeley for inclusion in future releases. Contact: frank at strsoft com or tgl at sss pgh pa us .

• Universidad de Vigo, Spain, created BerbeX, a COFDM-based digital TV transmission systems simulator, which uses Ptolemy.

• University of California at Berkeley, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, has used Ptolemy in both research and education.
  • The Infopad Project used Ptolemy as a design, simulation, and test generation tool . The Infopad Project is an indoor wireless communications network consisting of a computer network backbone connecting rooms together, with optical transmitters and hand-held computer-receivers in each room. Simulation of communications protocols between the hand-held terminals and the rest of the Infopad system have been performed in Communicating Processes domain, which is not included in the Ptolemy 0.6 release. Infopad designers also made use of the Synchronous Dataflow (SDF) model of computation to generate standalone demonstrations using the compile-SDF target and the Code Generation in C domain. The primary use of Ptolemy was in designing the hand-held computers, e.g. simulating their behavior, determining bit widths of the internal data paths, and test vector generation. Contact: ssheng at zabriskie eecs berkeley edu

  • Javier Contreras in Prof. Felix Wu's group is using Ptolemy as a framework for studying power systems transmission planning. Using Ptolemy, he is studying tradeoffs in using different optimization techniques provided by library routines and commercial software such as MATLAB. The optimization procedures are chosen graphically using hierarchical block diagrams and interactive Tcl/Tk interfaces.

  • Alberto Ferrari in the CAD group is interfacing MatrixX to Ptolemy to leverage their previous implementations of automatic control strategies in MatrixX. Contact: Alberto Ferrari

  • Students in the undergraduate and graduate signal processing courses use Ptolemy as an exploratory laboratory. Contact: Prof. Edward A. Lee

  • Ptolemy was the platform to show real-time signal processing demonstrations in a sophomore class entitled Introduction to Real-Time Digital Systems. Contact: Prof. Edward A. Lee

• VPIsystems makes enterprise-class software systems that support technical workforces across the communications industry: service providers, network operators, equipment vendors and component and system manufacturers. VPI's software provides all necessary tools and project management systems for photonic design automation. The platform delivers a complete range of interoperable design and simulation tools that investigate and capture component and system innovations to explore their impact on the network. Technologies include a comprehensive range of models for lasers, SOAs, Raman amplifiers, PMD mitigation and WDM, CATV and HFC systems. VPI is a privately held company with headquarters in New Jersey. Sales and support centers are located in New Jersey, Texas, Germany, Australia, and Singapore. The company was incorporated in 1998.
• White Eagle Systems Technology, Inc., uses Ptolemy in designing systems and developing CAD tools. One project involves hardware/software codesign of signal processing systems for speech, RADAR, networking and telecommunications. They have developed their own Ptolemy code generation domains for various DSP processors. Contact: rjjt at qstech com They have also developed a dataflow CAD tool derived from Ptolemy project research and the Hyper project at U.C. Berkeley. The tool assigns, schedules, and generates code for the Mercury RACEWAY architecture. The tool has been used to develop radar and sonar applications on Mercury systems with over 128 Intel i860 processors. Contact: rjjt at qstech com

Last Updated: $Date: 2007/11/20 02:35:08 $